SOME 75 per cent of rural homes cannot access an affordable broadband service, according to the Irish Farmers' Association.
IFA director of organisation Pat Smith said this had emerged from a survey of the organisation's 945 branches across the State.
"This situation is totally unacceptable as access to affordable broadband is now essential and thousands of rural homes and businesses are waiting patiently for the roll-out of the Government's National Broadband Scheme," he said.
Mr Smith, whose organisation offers its own broadband service, said the Government must ensure that the National Broadband Scheme provides all homes and businesses - regardless of where they are in rural Ireland - with an affordable service.
He said the scheme coverage maps, as currently drawn up, would not provide a broadband service in many areas and that this was unacceptable.
He claimed the rural telecommunications network had been starved of proper investment since the privatisation of Eircom.
"As our politicians made this decision, they now have to take a large share of the blame for this reality," he added.
"In addition, the lack of adequate Government regulation since privatisation has allowed a number of previous corporate owners to starve the network of the necessary investment to maintain and upgrade rural services," he said.
"Significant investment is now required and the Minister and Department of Communications must come forward with a strategic plan that ensures the years of neglect of the rural network are redressed," he added.
Séamus Boland, the chief executive of Irish Rural Link, said the broadband services available in rural Ireland could only be described as "dreadful".
He said his organisation, which is dedicated to the development of rural Ireland, had been trying for years to highlight the problems which the lack of this service was causing.
"It is very hard to believe, but true, that there are many business parks in the west of Ireland which do not have broadband," he said.
"How can you have an objective of proper balanced regional development if you are not providing the basic tools of communication?" he said.
He said it was impossible to get a broadband service in many parts of rural Ireland and there were grave misgivings that this would continue to be the case even after the next contracts are announced.
"The idea that graduates can work from their homes or even local offices with broadband is well rooted in rural development plans but how can you deliver on that when there is no basic service," he asked.
Figures published last week by the communications regulator ComReg for the last three months of 2007 showed mobile broadband growth was up by 44 per cent and total broadband take-up had increased by almost 12 per cent in the same period. It said there were now 886,000 broadband subscribers in the State.