10 rural ‘hubs’ in Kilkenny to get high-speed broadband in 2020
High-speed broadband will be delivered to 10 rural ‘hubs’ across Kilkenny in 2020.
The news comes after the Government yesterday announced it will invest €72 million to deliver high-speed broadband to 18,092 locations in Kilkenny by 2025.
Fine Gael Councillor Patrick O’Neill defended the cost of the project, saying the rollout of high speed broadband is a “huge issue” that is raised in every second home he has visited in Kilkenny in recent months.
The Kilkenny-Carlow General Election candidate told KilkennyNow.ie: “This will have a transformative effect on the lives of people living in rural parts of Kilkenny. It will have a huge impact on how they work and live, and on childcare.”
The National Broadband Plan is the Government’s plan to rollout high-speed broadband to 1.1 million people living and working in 540,000 premises nationally, including 100,000 businesses and farms, and over 600 schools, where commercial operators will not commit to delivering the service.
As an initial step, the Government has published a list of approximately 300 community centres, schools, library hubs and local GAA halls in every county that will be connected to high-speed broadband during 2020, to enable communities to quickly get free public access to high-speed broadband.
The 10 locations in Kilkenny are:
*Ballyouskill Parish Hall, Ballyouskill, Attanagh;
*Crosspatrick Parish Hall, Crosspatrick;
*Gorteennamuck, Gathabawn;
*Graine Community Hall, Graine, Urlingford;
*Listerlin National School, Listerlin, Tullogher;
*Moneynamuck Parish Hall, Galmoy;
*Muckalee Handball Club, Clorinka, Muckalee;
*Saint Aidan’s National School, Kilmanagh;
*Saint Michaels Primary School, Galmoy;
*Tullaghought Parish Hall, Pollrone, Piltown.
Cllr O’Neill (pictured below) added: “The ultimate goal here is to deliver high-speed broadband to homes and businesses all across the country. The delivery of high-speed broadband will be hugely beneficial to economic development and job creation in Kilkenny. It will open up a whole range of possibilities including: flexible and remote working; smart health with online GP and nursing services and medical monitoring; cloud-based services and connected devices; smart farming opportunities; digital learning; and reliable electronic payments and bookings for businesses.
“We want to ensure that people who wish to live and work in Kilkenny are supported in doing so. It is so crucial for balanced regional development that everyone in the country does not have to go to Dublin to work, study or start an enterprise.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “This contract means that every home, school, farm and business in Ireland will get access to high-speed broadband. No part of the country will be left behind in securing the jobs and opportunities of the future. And as we know, the future is already here in our daily lives with online access offering ever more opportunities for living and working.
“Broadband will be the biggest investment in Rural Ireland ever. We can have more people working from home, a better work-life balance, fewer car journeys, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. We can connect better with the world, with family members, with business, with new ideas and new ways of doing things. Every school in the country, like this one I’m standing in today, will be able to access digital technologies for teaching, while healthcare professionals can check-in and monitor patients remotely no matter where they are based.”
