National Broadband Ireland will carry out engineering surveys on the Aran Islands in the coming weeks to provide high-speed broadband to more than 1,000 homes and businesses on Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr.
This comes as part of the Government's National Broadband Plan, in which €153 million is to be invested in high-fibre broadband services in Co Galway.
In February, it was announced that 17,806 homes and businesses had access to reliable high-speed broadband as part of the plan, which will ultimately serve 40,000 premises all over Galway once the plan is fully in place.
The latest developments on the Aran Islands have been warmly welcomed by local residents. Chloe Ní Mháille, manager of Comhar Caomhán Teoranta at Inis Oírr Community Development Cooperative, stressed that despite the fact that the island currently has a Gteic digital and innovation hub and remote working facility, people need a more reliable internet connection.
In light of the current housing crisis, she said people must be able to live and work remotely on the island while also earning a decent salary, and they must not feel that they need to move inland due to a lack of reliable internet on the island.
NBI has already been made available on ten Irish islands off the west coast, including Inishturk South Island and Turbot Island off the coast of Galway, Long Island and Hare Island off Cork, Inishtyre off Mayo and Inis Mhic an Doirn and Inishfree Island off the coast of Donegal.
Once the engineering surveys are completed on the Aran Islands in the coming weeks, NBI will begin the design phase of the plan.
Reporting by Donncha Ó Murchú
