Eoin Ryan
Free wifi spots funded by the EU have been launched in several Meath town centres over the past few months.
Dunshaughlin, Ashbourne, and Kells are some of the areas given free wifi as part of an EU initiative to promote free Wi-Fi for local residents and visitors in public areas.
The initiative began in 2018 with a 120 million budget supporting the installation of Wi-Fi equipment in town and district centres.
“It is important that as many of our citizens as possible have access to broadband,” Former Cathaoirleach Cllr. Sean Drew said. “I am glad to see that the county’s second largest town is now included along with Kells and Navan
who were launched last year and recently added Oldcastle,” Drew added.
Vouchers worth 15,000 each are used to purchase new equipment or upgrade old material and replace it with modern equipment. The WiFi4EU vouchers may also be used to partially fund a project of higher value.
Almost 30,000 towns and districts have already registered for the EU initiative with vouchers given on a first-come, first-served basis, while ensuring that all Member States can benefit from a minimum amount of vouchers.
Trim,Navan and Dunboyne have also had free wifi installed in their town centres with Ratoath receiving it in the coming weeks.
“There has been a great deal of interest in delivering the network in Ashbourne from the Traders with several businesses expressing an interest in hosting the access points to provide coverage,” Cathaoirleach of Ashbourne MD, Cllr. Suzanne Jamal said.
Meath South East News 