High-speed broadband is needed to turn around rural depopulation and more according to North Kilkenny councillor

Calls are being made for Urlingford to be included in the National Broadband Plan.

Following an appeal from Councillors in the Castlecomer municipal district for an update on the scheme, a representative attended their latest meeting to give a presentation on the initiative.

Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh says while they were happy with most of what they heard, there was some dismay as to why one local spot fails to fall within the designated areas deemed to be in need of better internet connection; “We were shown all the good bits like where the connection points are and I’m happy that they’re in Crosspatrick and Galmoy, Muckalee, Ballyouskil, Graine and places like that, we were also shown where the connection hubs are being founded and they’re much the same again so that people can actually get the desk and work from home, we were shown where the blue areas were and Urlingford is one of the blue areas and the blue areas are outside of the National Broadband Plan because they’re deemed to have adequate broadband but that simply isn’t the case”.

She adds “People in Urlingford are in communication with the Department trying to get them to upgrade Urlingford because it’s not adequate despite them claiming that it is but the speeds are not up to speed, excuse the pun, the Urlingford people will have to be taken seriously by the Department and they need to be included in the National Broadband rollout because what they have already is not adequate”.

In conclusion, Cllr Cavanagh says “You can’t be hanging around waiting for documents to come in and documents to come out, there are quite a number of businesses now in Urlingford, successful businesses, and they need high-speed broadband and they need it very, very badly, they need high-speed broadband and if you’re to turn the rural depopulation around by populating the towns and creating businesses there you need high-speed broadband, that’s the first thing people ask when they come into a town when they come into a city; how good is broadband, how good is infrastructure all ’round?”.