Donegal County Council has been urged to intervene and prevent Fanad Lighthouse from suffering from a further absence of high speed broadband.
This week’s Letterkenny Municipal District meeting heard how the iconic tourist landmark is in danger of becoming a ‘broadband casualty’ due to the shortage.
Sinn Fein Councillor Adrian Glackin told the meeting how the Fansd Lighthouse website cannot be run on site and management have to update it from home.
He said he had been contacted by the person who runs the Lighthouse, who advises that there are three apartments that can be rented out, but there is no internet access provided.
Councillor Glackin said that only 17 per cent of people living in Fanad had broadband access.
“Eir have pulled out of their bid for implementing national broadband and this is going to slow down putting broadband into rural Ireland,” he added.
Fanad Lighthouse is one of Donegal’s most famous amenities and Councillor Gerry McMonagle said: “We have never been more in the spotlight and we have to make sure it’s our time. It is crucial that we get broadband in here.”
A response from the Council said that Fanad Lighthouse had been identified as a priority roll out of high speed broadband.
The answer from the Council said: “Of the 3,313 premises on the Fanad peninsula, 571 have access to current high speed broadband from existing commercial suppliers, 1082 will be served by the Eir 300k Rural Fibre Agreement during 2018, leaving 1661 to be served by the State subsidised National Broadband Plan.”
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