Local Fine Gael Councillor, John Dolan, has criticised the manner in which one rural area of Glasson has been omitted from the present roll out of broadband in the area.
“I welcome the fact that high speed broadband is being rolled out in rural Ireland and I was delighted to witness the relevant employees commencing the job of providing the lines and infrastructure to numerous areas in rural Athlone. I naturally assumed that the areas of Glasson, Tubberclair, Ballinahown and Baylin will be shortly connected to the new high speed broadband.
“Over the last couple of weeks I have been contacted by quite a number of people in the Glasson, Muckenagh and Tubberclair areas to inform me that even though the works are progressing in the immediate proximity of their households, they will not be broadband connected with works at these locations scheduled for between January 2025 and December 2026. This is simply unacceptable and does not make any sense to me.
“I have been told that this area has yet to be surveyed in this regard with such works to take place in correspondence with the area in Longford. I have spoken to the broadband officer in Westmeath and my colleague Cllr Paul Ross in Longford and we seem to be powerless to have this area completed along with their neighbours.
“I have contacted NBI and our local Fine Gael Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke in relation to this, and hopefully the whole area can be completed at the one time prior to moving on to the next area. There should be no pockets of any area left not provided with fibre broadband when the crews are working in a particular local rural location,” Cllr Dolan asserted.
