This article is from page 12 of the 2006-04-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
AN AMBITIOUS new proposal that would see over €4 million spent on upgrading broadband facilities in Ennis has been submitted by Clare County Council to the Department of Communications, Maritime and Natural Resources.
Councillors in the Ennis electoral area were informed at last week’s area meeting that a detailed submission aimed at addressing the shortfall in high speed Internet within the town had been forwarded to the department.
A total of 15.2km of fibre optic cable would be laid in Ennis under the proposal.
Government funding would account for 90
cent of the cost with both Clare County Coun cil and Shannon Development providing a further 5 per cent each.
Broadband technology would be installed in Ennis under the Department’s Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) scheme, which proposes the laying of “carrier neutral” fibre optic cable, where previously access to fibre optic technology was exclusive to the company that had installed it.
Councillor Joe Carey (FG) said he was astounded that Ennis had not been prioritised for Broadband access given its status as an information age town. He also stated that there were several blackspots around the Ennis area where broadband was unavailable.
“It is impossible to access broadband in Clarecastle. We are in limbo, it is a problem. It’s hard to fathom that Ennis hasn’t been prioritised and now we have top go with our begging bowl to the Government”
Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) said that many consumers found existing broadband suppliers too expensive and said that the problem could be traced back to the privatisation of Eircom.