Cork family first connected under €3bn National Broadband Plan
Brian and Lorna O'Connor pictured online with their children Hugo (5), Elsa (7) and Freya (10) in Shanbally, Co. Cork. Picture:Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
A Cork family has become the first to have their home connected under the state’s €3bn National Broadband Plan.
The O'Connor family, who live in a part of Carrigaline that previously had no reliable broadband available said the new connection to high-speed fibre broadband is going to bring “incredible benefits” to their family.
“Our youngest son starts school next year and will need a reliable internet connection to convert his schoolwork to braille,” father Brian O’Connor said.
“I also work away from home frequently, so having the ability to speak and see each other remotely is going to mean the world to us, as well as helping us have more regular contact with other family members.”
National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new high-speed network on behalf of the Government, said homes and businesses have now been successfully connected in Cork and Cavan, with connections in Limerick and Galway due in the coming weeks.
More than 130,000 premises in townlands across the country will be connected to the network by the end of the year, with acess to speeds of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) from day one, NBI said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the first rollout of the National Broadband Plan to homes and businesses in Carrigaline was a “significant milestone.”
“Access to a new high-speed fibre network will be transformative for communities and businesses across Ireland, especially in light of the pandemic and an increasing reliance on remote working and learning.”
“The National Broadband Plan creates opportunity in every part of the country, giving people a better work life balance, and opening up digital technologies to homes, schools, and all sectors of the economy,” he said.
David McCourt, Chairman of National Broadband Ireland said the company is working to rollout the network “as quickly and effectively as possible, despite the extremely challenging environment caused by Covid-19.”
“While working in accordance with the Government’s Covid-19 guidelines to keep our teams and the public safe, we are doing everything in our power to ensure we can connect premises as quickly as possible.” he said.
The State Intervention Area for the National Broadband Plan includes 544,000 premises and over 1.1 million people, and includes any new homes built in the Intervention Area over the next 25 years.
The Intervention Area can be viewed using the government’s High Speed Broadband Map (www.broadband.gov.ie) which shows the areas which are included in the National Broadband Plan. The map is colour coded and searchable by address and Eircode.
