This article is from page 3 of the 2008-09-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
ALTHOUGH it may have won the title of Ireland’s Information Age Town, Ennis is being left behind in the latest high tech development af- ter missing out on an €18 million fibre optic network which is to be installed around Limerick City and eight towns in the mid-west region. Clare Green Party councillor, Bri- an Meaney has highlighted the major contradiction in the fact that Ennis and Shannon have been overlooked
in a Government initiative to bring broadband to the masses in the mid- west.
In recent days, Shannon Broad- band Ltd, a public sector consortium led by Shannon Development, an- nounced the completion of a fibre optic network in providing world- class telecoms to eight towns in the mid-west.
Local authorities in the mid-west and Offaly were also involved in the initiative but Clare County Council has fared worst with only Kilrush in-
cluded in the present scheme.
Two Offaly towns, Birr and Ban- agher are in the scheme, along with Roscrea and Templemore in Tipper- ary while Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West in County Limerick have also been provided with the infrastruc- aOR Kom
The latest expansion of the fibre optic network covers 52 kilometres and follows the earlier provision of 57 kilometres of fibre optic cable by Shannon Broadband at a cost of €6.5 million around Limerick City.
Cllr Meaney yesterday expressed his anger that Ennis was excluded from the initiative.
He said there has been a failure to build on the Information Age Town designation. The most recent cen- sus figures show that Ennis has now been eclipsed by Shannon in terms of homes that own a home computer, while almost half of Ennis homes have no access to the internet.
“It is already proving difficult to at- tract industry to Ennis and this will place the town at a further disadvan-
tage. Broadband is now as important as laying train tracks or new roads for the county’s infrastructure and I find it mystifying what Ennis and Shannon were not put forward as candidate towns in Clare,’ he said.
A spokesman for Shannon Devel- Opment said that the Department for Communications nominated the towns concerned. However, Shannon Development would be pressing the case for the inclusion of Ennis, Shan- non and Thurles in the next expan- sion.