Offaly secure €60,000 to establish open-access WiFi hot-spots throughout the county.
Offaly secure €60,000 to establish open-access WiFi hot-spots throughout the county.
Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, Seán Canney TD today welcomed the announcement of the first successful applicants of the European WiFi initiative, WiFi4EU. This announcement sees Offaly secure €60,000 to establish open-access WiFi hot-spots throughout the county. €30,000 was secured through the European WiFi initiative and the Department of Rural and Community Development provided match funding of €30,000.
Broadband Officer for Offaly County Council Ray Bell, stated “This is great news for Offaly as it allows us to continue to provide free public access to WiFi throughout the county. Earlier this year we provided free public WiFi along the Shannon in Shannon Bridge, Banagher and Shannon Harbour. In early 2019, the Greenway along the Grand Canal will be connected at Edenderry, Daingean, Tullamore, Pollagh and Shannon Harbour. This announcement today will improve the connectivity of communities in Offaly and enable us to support the flagship tourism and recreation projects that we are working towards in the county."
The funding was awarded at EU level on a first-come first-served basis and Minister Canney added: “This outcome shows how proactive local authorities in Ireland are and their determination to bring connectivity to their areas. They are doing as much as they can to provide their communities with a much needed service and their efforts and engagement need to be applauded. Officials from my Department worked very closely with Broadband Officers, local authorities and the European Commission ahead of the first call for applications, and this great result is a demonstration of the very positive engagement and willingness from all involved to improve the connectivity of communities
https://drcd.gov.ie/about/news-centre/press-releases/minister-canney-welcomes-european-funding-of-e885000-for-21-local-authorities-under-the-wifi4eu-initiative/?fbclid=IwAR1W0zuacFPxTtx-sd5bICOK3uPDpG61sNTNLoESBFq31Hsi2NLYMdAnBuk
