Towns news
The abbreviation "IA" is used to stand for Information Age on this page.
Ennis plans to get 50% of the town's businesses to trade online. A £2m budget has been set aside within the project for business, and the spend has been defined by the companies themselves after consultative workshops for businesses in the tourism, retail and professional services sectors. There will be information seminars, workshops, clinics, ICT audits, one-to-one advice, a resource library, bureau services for ISDN and ADSL as well as subsidies for hardware, software, training or website development. There will also be free basic computer familiarisation and subsidised training for acquisition of the ECDL qualification. In addition businesses will get subsidised ISDN connections, free Internet connection, webspace and email accounts plus instruction on website setup. About 20 businesses considered to be leaders in the Information Age will receive around £15,000 of subsidies for implementing innovative technology. To receive help businesses must be in the Ennis UDC area and must complete an ICT audit.
Maynooth Action Strategy has applied for a £10,000 grant from Telecom Eireann to set up a Community Access Centre for the Internet. It will involve personal computers located in the libary allowing low cost access to email and the Internet. There will also be a website for Maynooth and all local businesses. The project is linked to Maynooth community council, the Maynooth newsletter and the Maynooth Directory.
A project organised by the Disabled People of Clare organisation is to provide information by Internet, CD-ROM and in person for disabled people in key areas such as housing, health, community services, travel, rights, grants, education, training and support organisations. The project was launched at the DPOC's Ennis offices by Minister Mary Wallace and is one of four pilot projects funded by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform which has allocated £25,000 for continued development.
The Kilkenny Information Age organisation has taken funds from its £1m IAT prize to award a grant of £5,000 to all Kilkenny city schools towards the cost of computer equipment. To receive the grant schools must provide details of the equipment being purchased.
A task force in Carrigaline is preparing a proposal for public internet access in the area. Telecom Eireann is offering grants of £10,000 to towns like Carrigaline which entered the Information Age Towns contest in 1997 which prepare a proposal to provide access. The task force is made up of Carrigaline Enterprise Board, Carrigaline Community Association and Carrigaline Community School. Local residents are being asked to support the project and providing funding, technical and management know-how. A directory of local businesses on the Internet is also planned..
Six public Internet access points are planned in Killarney and the first has been established at Aras Padraig. Free of charge, the access points provide links to the KATE website. About 40 Telecom Phonewatch systems out of a planned 100 have also now been installed in the homes of elderly or disabled people.
Kevin Tarrant, a founding member of Killarney's Information Age Town project has criticised the organising committee's decision to ask the public for £200,000 in funding to set up and sustain its website. KATE spokesman Frank Lewis replied that Mr Tarrant did not understand the magnitude of the project. "The kind of website we are developing has not been attempted before and will embrace the entire community, private and public, education and tourist, and so on". The money is to go to setting up a standalone company employing 3-4 people to input information, which will be supervised by Niall O'Sullivan, a director of the Local Ireland company. Mr Tarrant was not mollified. "Is it intended to put the whole town into cyberspace, lakes and all? It is possible to acquire 50Mb of webspace, probably enough to take every scrap of informationn ever known about Killarney for less than £200", he commented. He also criticised the decision to hand over some of the £1m to state bodies such as Kerry County Council for the provision of one-stop information shops.
Despite great hopes for the £1m KATE project in Killarney, little information is available about the current state of play. Has the funding been received? Are schools now equipped with computers? Is the website online? How much of the £1m has been allocated, spent or pledged? Telecom promised voicemail for all houses in the area within four weeks of the original announcement but over a year later voicemail is not available in many parts of Killarney. The project is now also looking for shareholderes to put up £20,000 each to fund the Killarney website, as well as seeking contributions of £50 from indivduals, £200 for voluntary organisations and £200-£500 from local businesses, causing questions to be asked about how the money has been spent.
Castlebar has received the first instalment of its £1m grant under the IAT competition from Telecom. A cheque for £133,000 has been received for the prize won in September 1997.
Enterprise Ireland is to support the creation of 37 jobs by Longview Technologies in Longford. The company's roots came from Longford's entry into the Information Age Towns competition, and it is a joint venture between successful businessman Billy Glenn of Vision Consulting, chartered accountants Lyons Keenan Kilemade, and Michael O'Sullivan. Longview provides software development, support and maintenance, primarily to medium and large size companies.
Castlebar Information Age Town Committee is distributed several hundred ECDL CD-ROMs. They can be rented for a refundable deposit of £40 but must be returned within three months. They allow people to study at home in their own time and at their own pace. There are several test centres where people can try out their new found knowledge in the town.
Leixlip Town commissioners want public help in putting together their application for £10,000 grant aid to provide a community internet access centre. The application must give details of location, disabled access, opening hours and management. They hope to receive help from Intel employees in the local area.
Up to twenty PC users in Ennis have been hit by a computer virus according to local computer shops. The virus, WIN95.CIH, is activated on the 26th day of any month and is described as one of the most lethal and destrictive ever. However, the Information Age Town office say they have had no complaints relating to the 3,500 machines which they have distributed, and the virus can be easily eradicated by up to date antivirus software.
Retailers in Ennis are unhappy about the additional workload imposed by use of the town's electronic cash card trial - one publican described the time taken for transactions as "totally impractical". However, over 10,000 Visa Cash cards are to be issued, designed for transactions of under £5, and usable in up to 300 outlets. Consumers will gain the convenience of not always having to carry the right change for phones, parking meters and shops and will reduce coin and note administration burdens for banks. The trial is run jointly by AIB, Bank of Ireland and Telecom Eireann.
The computer subsidy offer made as part of Castlebar's Information Age Town project will be extended to the whole of Castlebar parish. According to the IAT committee chairman Richard Wynne they have been overwhelmed with applications for the subsidised Gateway computers but many applications have been from just outside the designated area of the town.
Telecom Eireann has pledged £10,000 to each of the 42 towns which entered the Information Age Towns competition and did not reach the shortlist to provide a Community Access Centre to the Internet. The towns are also to become part of an IAT alliance which may in future link up with the Local Ireland Internet community content project.
Castlebar, a runner up in the Information Age Towns competition won by Ennis, has announced that householders and businesses can purchase Gateway computers at a £150 discount to encourage them to gain PC skills and get connected to the Internet.
Funds lacking in Ennis: Evening Echo
Reports in the Clare Champion suggest schools in Ennis are in debt due to the costs of accommodating the PCs provided through the IAT project. Some schools have relocated students to newly built prefabs in order to facilitate conversion of existing calssrooms into computer laboratories. School principals have requested extra funds from the Department of Education to no avail.
Visa Cash, an electronic purse technology will be available in Ennis information Age Town for small value purchases such as newspapers, confectionary and payphones. The trial will begin in November when the electronic purse cards will be offered to 10,000 Bank of Ireland and AIB customers. During 1999 home phone devices to allow customers to reload their cards with cash in the comfort of their own homes willl be installed. The maximum value of the card is £50. Up to 300 retail outlets in Ennis will be fitted with the point of sale equipment which can read the cards, along with pay and display car parking machines, Telecom Eireann cardphones and Coca Cola vending machines. The card is free and there is no charge either for making purchases with it or for reloading it with cash.
The KATE project is to set up three community access points to allow community and voluntary groups access to information technology. If uptake is good three other centres will be opened. The total cost of six centres will be in the region of £70,000. Ten primary schools and a number of second level schools will also get computer and internet facilities amounting to around £188,000. The computers should be in lace by the end of October but hardwware and software decisions and tendering processes are still under way.
Shannon Development (SFADCO) is to buy a 50 acre site adjacent to the existing Ennis industrial estate, as well as the former Our Lady's psychiatric hospital on the Gort road. The development body plans to promote the town as a location for technology and media-based industry.
Forty-eight clubs and organisations in Castlebar will receive new computers through the Castlebar Information Age Towns project aimed at promoting Castlebar as a national leader in the use of electronic information.
The Ennis electronic purse trial, jointly operated by AIB, Bank of Ireland and Telecom Eireann, is planned to start in November using Visa Cash smartcards. Ennis will then join 18 other cashless society trials worldwide. Telecom will provide 500 terminals to householders in Ennis where they can reload their electronic purses. AIB has applied for planning permission for nine standalone electronic purse loading devices and Telecom is to install 40 state of the art phones which will be able to read the cards and accept payment from them. Experience elsewhere has shown disappointing results, for example in Manhattan where many retail outlets did not learn how to use the terminals, claiming to customers that they were broken. Spokesmen for the Ennis scheme say they have learned from the errors made elsewhere.
Killarney received £1m as one of three runners-up to Ennis in the Information Age Towns competition. The money has been used to prepare a one-stop technology shop allowing access to planning records held in Tralee, and which will also host enquiry services for a number of other public bodies, local authorities and semi-state bodies. A website for the town is also planned, focussing on tourism bookings, and new hardware and software is to be provided to 33 voluntary community organisations in the town. High-tech alarms for 117 elderly and disabled people will also be purchased. The KATE (Killarney and Telecom Eireann) project has also been able to use its funding to lever EU and Southern Health Board support to the tune of £800,000 to provide computer link-ups with consultants in Cork and Tralee for Killarney residents so that they don't have to make expensive hospital trips. The remaining funding is to go on training projects.
Ennis may be visited by President Bill Clinton during his trip to Ireland. Assistant Chief Executive of the Information Age Towns project Triona McInerney reported that she had "an incredible amount of progress" to show him. Over 1200 PCs have been distributed and the pass rate for the pre-qualifying usage test has been over 90%. A website will finally be launched on September 24th, one year after the announcement of the town's win but it will be static although a community notice board will be added shortly afterwards.
An EU funded water monitoring programme costing £2.3m is to be located in Ennis. The project is aimed at monitoring water quality in the Shannon and its tributaries, and improving sewerage works in the area. More than 10,500 square kilometeres of water will be sampled using 400 sampling points along the Shannon.
Hole in the wall machines will allow social welfare recipients to draw down weekly payments using bank card type devices as part of the town's information age developments. The cards will also provide payments via certain shops and the trial is being run in conjunction with AIB and Bank of Ireland. the new service was launched by Minister Dermot Ahern who said it would improve public service access.
Michael Byrne, Chief Executive of Ennis IAT project has predicted that the town will have the highest level of online business in Europe. Over £2m is to be spent on developing a fibreoptic ring in the town as well as an Internet site to allow busines to advertise, sell, take orders and accept payments via the Web. Mr Byrne also said the project would create several hundred hi-tech jobs.
Takeup of low-cost PCs in Ennis Information Age town has been lower than expected. About 4,000 people in the town qualify for the package, worth £3,000 but so far less than half have applied. The Task Force is now rethinking its strategy to encourage others to sign up.
New Chief Executive for Ennis Task Force: Clare Champion
Michael Byrne has been appointed CEO of the Ennis Task Force. He said that 2,000 people had already applied to sit the qualifying usage test. Mr Byrne has worked for Lotus Development in Ireland and is a former chaplain and curate. he has an MSc in Computer Based Information Systems.
Over 1200 people in Ennis have undergone a computer usage test to qualify for reduced price computers as part of the IAT project. The success rate has been 90%, and Telecom plans to send out bank giro forms to those who have passed over the next week. The cost of the computers will be £260. June will also see the beginning of basic computer training for those who cannot yet take the usage test, involving four two hour classes over a two week period. The Echo reports that there has been criticism of the test as equivalent to a "university thesis" but this is denied by Task Force chairman TJ Waters who says the pass rate speaks for itself.
470 computers have now been installed in Ennis schools as part of the £15m Information Age Town project. Twelve schools are now fully equipped with multimedia computers and Internet access. Every student and teacher in the town now has their own email address.
470 computers have been installed for 5,200 pupils in Ennis and about 5,500 email address have been set up for every pupil and teacher. All the computers are multimedia models. The schools involved include two special schools for children with disabilities. Over 200 second level and 100 primary teachers are currently being trained by the University of Limerick with teachers learning on a voluntary basis outside school hours.
Property developers Lowstrand Securities have begun work on the Millstream Court Development in Ennis. Apartments will be built with facilities for modems and other communications equipment. Anyone who wishes to work from home can install modem and video communications systems.
Ennis computer and technology firms have complained to the Taoiseach that they are being excluded from activities in the town's IA project. The delegation told Mr Ahern they were not given opportunities to tender for supply of computers to the project, and briefed him on possible snags in the project such as repair costs.
Aideen McCracken, group product marketing manager, Gateway 2000 says Ireland lags behind other European countries and the US in the use of PCs in education. Research by the company shows children's school performance increases signficantly as a result o using PCs. Gateway is supplying over 4,000 computes as part of Telecom Eireann's IT2000 scheme.
The rollout of PCs to Ennis house owners will take six to eight months. All house owners and tenants in the UDC boundary are entitled to a PC but will be asked for a contribution of £260 towards the PC which has a retail value of £1800. The contributions will be used to fund further projects. To qualify, households must have a person over 16 years who can pass a simple PC usage test. Where no such person is available, a household member must attend and pass a training course and further PCs will be distributed on a lottery basis. Around 5,500 households are eligible. Gateway 2000 will be one of the suppliers to the IA projects.
IA Family: Modern Woman
The Halley family in Ennis have been chosen as the IAT typical family. Larry and Martina have four sons and have received the first family computer. Martina, a school secretary, is already computer literate. Larry, an air traffic controller is to take advanced PC lessons. He looks forward to the commissioning of the Ennis community bulletin board for notices such as sports fixtures. Rory (13) is using the Internet to get information for school projects. Local auctioneers also report increased property prices in the town as a result of winning the IAT competition.
An Internet roadshow which forms part of the Information Age Towns project visited the Munster Arms on 24 March. 40 business people received a presentation in the afternoon organised by the chamber of commerce. In the evening a second session was held for the general public. Both were presented by Michael Brannigan, Telecom and Steve Facer, Microsoft.
The Taoiseach has launched the Ennis IAT Schools Project at Holy Family School. The project is supported by Telecom Eireann, whose chief executive, Alfie Kane said that investment in children through use of computers and the Internet in classrooms was investment in our future. Over 700 computers have been supplied by Telecom.
Telecom Eireann and Dell Computer have refuted rumours in Ennis that computers on offer as part of the IAT project are obsolete because the chip used in the PCs is no longer commonly available.
Clare sidelined on superhighway: Clare Champion
FF Deputy Tony Killeen warns that Clare and the Mid West region could miss out on new industries and jobs due to lack of broadband communications although these are due to be introduced as part of phase two of the IAT project in Ennis. However Telecom Eireann said that broadband communications were already available on demand in Ennis. The company is also installing a forty-eight fibre ring around the town.
In 1997 Fermoy entered the Information Age Town competition. An Internet roadshow which forms part of the Information Age Towns project is to be given in Fermoy to help citizens with guidance on becoming active participants in the new Technological age.
Smart cards first in Ennis: Business & Finance AIB, Bank of Ireland and Telecom Eireann will launch an electronic purse trial in Ennis. From September 1998 Ennis people can pay for public telephone calls, newspapers, car parking and other small value purchases such as those from vending machines using an electronic purse rather than cash. There will be about 10,000 reloadable cards and 300 merchants involved, each using special point of sale card readers. The technology in use will be "Visa Cash" which complies with international standards. Visa has over 17 other pilot schemes in action worldwide.
An Internet roadshow which forms part of the Information Age Towns project has visited Youghal. Residents are offered £50 of free Internet software if they attend the demonstrations.
Ennis banks have come together to offer a loan package for people taking advantage of the low cost PCs offered under the IAT scheme. Multimedia personal computers are available at a cost of £260 to Ennis households where at least one person has completed a usage test or training course. The banks are offering £200 loans at a reduced interest rate of 10.5% over twelve months, giving repayments of about £17.50 per month.
Untangling the web in Ennis: Irish Times
About half the £15 million investment that Ennis won as IAT has already been spent. Some people are expressing disappointment at the rate of roll out of the project. Penetration of phone connections has risen from 83 to 93 percent of the the population (an extra 600 people). Brian Mitchell of Softarc International warns that in Kington, UK, a similar project nearly collapsed after initial funding from BT and Apple. Donal Crotty of Enlyten suggests Telecom will make nearly £2 million per year in increased revenue in Ennis. It has transpired that PCs will not be free, but will cost £260 each, and that Internet subscription (not connection) fees will be free for a year - online telephone time will still have to be paid for. John Culligan, Telecom project manager in Ennis says that a community access centre for the Internet will be established in the town next year with about 12 PCs, and public access kiosks will provide information from the town's website - another bone of contention as it has not been frequently updated since the town won the project.
Open letter by Donal Crotty, consultant.
After six months of the IAT project some communication with the public of Ennis should be expected. When will people get access to PCs? What are the plans for the Ennis Intranet? Where is the Ennis website? To address these issues and others there should be a weekly IAT column in the Clare Champion on progress with the project, an information programme on Clare FM and a postal bulletin. There should be public meetings and meetings for business and professional people.
Castlebar, one of three runners-up in the IAT competition, has received its first delivery of PCs for schools as part of its £1m prize. Each school has received a Gateway Pentium 200 MHz computer with modem, an Internet connection and free Internet access for two years. High speed ISDN lines will also be available to some schools. Richard Wynne, Chairman of Castlebar IA Committee stated two main goals of the project: the creation of jobs in Castlebar and achieving computer literacy for all Castlebar citizens within three years.
Award to Castlebar activist: Connaught Telegraph
Regina McGarrigle, who played a pivotal role in Castlebar's application in the IAT competition, received a PJ Hennelly Customer Care and Service award organised by Castlebar Chamber of Commerce.
Triona McInerney is a marketing graduate from the University of Limerick who has worked in Philadelphia and with the Limerick Food Festival. She has been appointed Coordinator of the IAT project after overseeing the Ennis application in the IAT comeptition. She is concerned citizens are not bombarded with new technology but feel at ease with it so it becomes part of everyday life. Triona is promoting links with sister town Phoenix, Arizona which has highly advanced technology and which has introduced some local businesses to the idea of teleworking.
Part of the 1998 People in Need Telethon will be broadcast from Ennis IAT.
Plans to charge full local call charge rates for Internet access in Ennis threaten the IAT project according to local IT expert Donal Crotty who believes Telecom could receive up to £2m a year in revenue from the charges. Crotty said 10 hours of Internet use a week would lead to a bill of £636 for a year, leading households to limit usage. Telecom's project leader Des McLaughlin replied that Telecom was barred from reducing access charges by EU law and that he would be startled if people's usage reached 10 hours per week. The charge that Telecom was viewing the project as a commercial opportunity did not hold water, he added.
32 businesses attended a workshop held as part of the Telecom Eireann IA roadshow in Leixlip. Town Commission Paul Kelly said the workshop should be developed upon. Councillor Catherine Murphy said further events should be organised.
Eight multimedia computers have been installed in the Butts Community Centre, Kilkenny. The computers were obtained with a grant from the Jesuit Solidarity Fund and suplied by John Downey of JD Computers. The community now hopes to get further resources through Kilkenny's IAT prize to turn its centre into an information and computer training resource.
Multimedia PCs with Internet access, to be provided to 5,500 Ennis people, will take around six to eight months to roll out according to the IAT task force. To qualify, households must have an adult capable of passing a basic computer usage test involving setting up and starting the PC, opening a new file, typing five lines and saving the document, retrieving the document from a floppy disk, accessing the Internet and sending an email message. If no-one in the household can pass the test, someone must attend and pass a course of approximately 8 hours of PC tuition. Information packs on the project are being sent to all households in the UDC area.
The College of Education at the University of Limerick will provide training programmes in hardware and software applications, word processing, data bases, spreadsheets and the Internet to teachers in all Ennis schools. The university will also prepare teaching material to be used as a resource base in schools, and will examine how videoconferencing equipment to be installed in the schools can provide a constant link to resources and teaching facilities in the University.
More jobs for Ennis IAT: Clare Champion
Des McLaughlin, Telecom Eireann National Project Manager, predicts Ennis will benefit from its IAT status with a jobs boost lasting into the next century. McLaughlin pointed out Telecom was spending around £3,000 on every household in Ennis. Printers for the computers to be distributed will be available at a cost of £99. PCs will only be distributed to households where at least one adult can use a computer.
Apple offers Sligo discount PCs: Sligo Weekender
Apple will provide 100 PCs at low prices to Sligo, one of the towns which competed but won no prize in the IAT comeptition. The PCs are 225 MHz Powermacs with 15 inch monitors, 24 speed CD-ROMs, 32 Mb RAM and modems plus software and a prepaid Internet connection. John Mellon, Apple sales manager said that the machines would not be completely free, but a certain number of free computers would be provided to schools and hospitals. Maintenance will be provided by Galmac Computers in Galway.
£7 million investment for Kilkenny: Kilkenny People
Kilkenny will get investment of £7 million from Telecom Eireann after being awarded a runner-up prize in the IAT competition. A £2m investment in the city's telephone exchanges has already begun. £40,000 will be spent on a teacher training unit at Seville Lodge. All schools will get free phone lines, connection and access to the Internet. ISDN lines will be supplied to two outreach campuses in the city. A fibre optic ring will be fitted in the railway station area to serve a new technology park and an incubation unit for high technology businesses. £100,000 will be spent to provide community groups with interconnected computers and software. £500,000 will be spent on K-Net, a public service website giving community information. There is also an ambitious £4 million scheme to provide community access to email via TV.
The Telecom Eireann and Microsoft organised IA roadshow, aimed at demystifying the Internet will be held, at the Arklow Bay hotel. The Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Business Association have provided delegates to fill the 35-40 business places on the afternoon workshop, and a roadshow will also be held in the evening.