Getting connected in remote areas

DO YOU want to be connected with the wider world through modern technology – even if it means putting up with occasionally obtrusive masts – or remain in splendid rural isolation?

That’s the question facing people living in some of our most beautiful and often remote landscapes, especially in mountainous areas. It could be all about getting a proper telephone service for the Black Valley, in Kerry, or broadband internet access for people living in the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains, in Co Waterford.

Up and down the country people have been objecting to the erection of telecommunications masts on grounds of possible risks to health. There are also environmental issues, with masts being a blot on pristine elevated areas for example.