OFFALY COUNTY COUNCIL LAUNCHES TULLAMORE PUBLIC WiFi4EU project
On Thursday 8th October shortly in advance of the Tullamore Municipal District meeting, Councillors and others involved gathered in O’Connor Square to welcome the immediate availability of public WiFi in the county town streetscape and various community venues around the Municipal District - upgrades to the public realm and voluntary sector venues.
Formally launching Tullamore WiFi4EU, Cathaoirleach of the Tullamore Municipal District Cllr Danny Owens welcomed the project, which he is pleased to advise “is designed to enhance the public realm in the town and we offer our thanks to local businesses Doyle’s Gala, Cloonan’s Hardware and Supermac’s that are among locations servicing their area of William Street and Columcille Street”. Cllr Owens also thanked the range of community venues around the Municipal District that have in addition been provided with WiFi4EU and said that the Council “see partnerships with both the business and voluntary sector as key enablers to enhancing Offaly’s online presence”.
Tom Shanahan, Director of Services for Offaly County Council and Tullamore Municipal District tells us “this project is a further enhancement of Tullamore Town Centre as a place to visit and do business following completion of the Urban Regeneration works and a strong component of our wider offering of Wifi for public spaces in main towns in Offaly. We are also providing this service in collaboration with community venues across the county that can then consider promoting local WiFi to their community members interested in remote working, access to online education, and enterprise training”.
Roger Guiney, President of Tullamore & District Chamber of Commerce welcomes the launch of the Tullamore WiFi service which will benefit the Tullamore town resident and tourist alike, and hopefully help enhance footfall into the future. He suggests “further use of the WiFi facility could include for instance information from shops and local businesses on special offers they have on particular days, town events and community activities”.
CEO of Network and Infrastructure Support Ltd, Gerry Buckley says his company “is delighted to be working with Offaly County Council on this scheme and we commend the business and community supporters to date and those throughout the county that NIS will be connecting to this WiFi4EU service in the near future”.
“The project is funded through the EU, to promote access to Wi-Fi connectivity in public spaces in municipalities throughout Europe, with matching funding provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development for WiFi installation” explains Catriona Hilliard, Broadband Officer with Offaly County Council. Offaly County Council also provide budget support for operational costs of the WiFi rollout installation and going forward. The project will also be deployed in coming months in the Municipal Districts of Birr and Edenderry.
