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Completing the Ros a Mhíl Harbour development is vital to the future of Connemara’s fishing industry and the employment prospects for people in the region.

One Mullingar secretary has to sit on the bonnet of a car in Forest Park to get internet coverage, and a father who is studying online has to stay two hours late in work because he has no broadband at home - these were the stories told at this week’s April meeting of Westmeath County Council.

Some 105 rural locations across Mayo are set to benefit under a new broadband strategy.

Claremorris moved itself to the top of the technology chain this week when the town was unveiled as Ireland’s first fibre town Enet, Ireland’s open access network operator, is building Ireland’s first fibre town in Claremorris,  through a €0.5m investment in broadband infrastructure which sees AirSpeed Telecom offering 250Mbs broadband connectivity to local businesses.

Claremorris was selected this week as one of nine towns in the country that will become an Active Travel Town. The initiative has seen each of the towns get funding for local cycling and walking strategies, including new cycle-lanes, the provision of walkways, and behavioural change initiatives in local schools and workplaces to encourage people to switch their transport mode.

Just a day after Claremorris became Ireland’s first ‘fibre town’ with the launch by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte of a €500,000 investment in broadband infrastructure in the town, which sees the construction of a Fibre to the Business network (FFTB), there was more good news for Claremorris today.

Eircom have admitted that it needs to replace nearly a kilometre of faulty cable in Forest Park Industrial Estate in the town. The fault left several businesses including an award winning, high-tech business without internet access. And according to one business owner eircom’s inability to provide reliable high speed broadband is threating the survival of their company. Robotics & Drives had signed up for O2 broadband, which uses eircom lines, and it was only after serious internet problems that the real issue came to light.

Kiltimagh could have a company with a 150 strong workforce set up in the morning, thanks to having a state-of-the art enterprise ready office building with fibre broadband, something that is not available in Castlebar. That is something that the county town needs if it is to be serious about attracting new businesses, the members of Castlebar Town Council were told last week.

Claremorris’ businesses are being urged by their Chamber of Commerce to seize the fantastic opportunity available to become Ireland’s first fibre town. However, the development of the country’s first “fibre to the business” (FTTB) network in Claremorris will only happen if over 50 per cent of the town’s businesses sign up according to chamber president Jimmy Flynn.