Cavan is one of the first counties in Ireland to be connected under the Government’s plan for high speed broadband – O’Reilly

Cavan is one of the first counties in Ireland to be connected under the Government’s plan for high speed broadband, Fine Gael Senator, Joe O’Reilly, has said.

Senator O’Reilly who was a member of the Oireachtas Committee that worked on the plan, said: “Homes in Cavan are already connected under the Government’s National Broadband Plan.

“This is great progress and is so important for the economic and social development of Cavan as part of Fine Gael’s vision for balanced regional development across the county.

“Rural broadband is so essential to this vision. It will allow enterprise to flourish in places like Cavan and ensure people have increased options to live and work here.

“This why in the last Government, Fine Gael began the largest and most significant investment ever in rural Ireland through our National Broadband Plan. Broadband is coming to every town, village and community across the country and I am delighted Cavan is one of the first counties to be connected.

Senator O’Reilly continued: “Not one of the other political parties supported Fine Gael’s broadband plan and they sought to block it at every turn. There are remote and rural areas in Cavan where commercial providers will not invest. If Fine Gael didn’t persist with this plan, too many people and businesses in Cavan would have been left behind by the opposition.

“Since the pandemic, the parties that opposed Fine Gael’s Broadband Plan are belatedly coming around to the importance of remote working.

“Fine Gael’s vision for The National Broadband Plan (NBP) was for it to enable new ways of working and exploit the huge benefits that remote working offers to employers, employees and society more generally.  This was a crucial part of our strategy to ensure balanced regional development across Ireland, long before the pandemic. But COVID-19 has shown us the demand for this is growing.

“The pandemic has changed the way in which we live, work and interact with each other. Covid has shown us that location is not as important anymore, connectivity is what counts.”

As part of the work to connect homes and businesses to high speed broadband, surveys have been completed in Ballinagh, Corlurgan, Araghan, Poles, Caughoo, Belturbet, Killashandra and Butler’s Bridge. Surveys have commenced  in Ballylennon, Redhills, Gannons Cross, Derryheelan, Castlesaunderson, Townparks, Foalies Bridge, Riverrun and Erne Hill. Pre-build works have commenced outside Cavan town including in the areas of Ballinagh, Corlurgan, Araghan, Poles, and Caughoo, in the south of the county.

The Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) initiative will see publicly accessible sites in rural and isolated parts of Cavan provided with a temporary high-speed broadband connection by National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company contracted to deliver the NBP.  BCP’s installed in Cavan are Gallonray House Gallonreagh Maudabawn, Kildallan Parish Hall,  Killenkere Leisure Centre, Castle Saunderson Scout Centre, Bunnoe Community Centre, Drumavaddy Community Centre, Templeport Community Centre, Cornafean Community Centre, Mullahoran Community Centre and  Glengevlin Community Hall. The BCP site at Castlerahan Community Centre is installed and connected.

Laragh National School will be provided with high speed broadband  for educational use through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Education as part of this initiative.

Senator O’Reilly concluded: “Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, it is great to see the installation of high speed broadband already underway in Cavan and surveying works also underway nationwide over the winter months. While Covid-19 might have delayed us, it will not stop us and Fine Gael is determined that 1.1m people in 544,000 homes, 695 schools, 54,000 farms and 44,000 business in the country will be online under the NBP so that no part of the country is left behind.”