Broadband brings history alive for united relatives in Beara and Montana

TWO rural communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic with historic mining links were united last night at the launch of a new broadband system in West Cork.

Families in Castletownbere who have never seen their relations in Butte, Montana, spoke with them by live video conference during simultaneous events in each town.

Up to 150 people packed into the Bord Iascaigh Mhara regional training centre in Castletownbere. They watched as members of the local Sullivan, Harrington, Murphy and Quill families spoke to their second cousins of the same name who were sitting with just over 100 people in a room in Montana Tech University.