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By Tom Gillespie PLANS ARE being drafted for the spending of the £1m Telecom Eireann prizemoney which Castlebar won in the Information Age Town project. And matching funds are to be sought from Europe so that the IT blueprint can be developed in the best possible way. According to Mr Pat Jennings, president of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce up to £3m could be invested in the area over the next twelve months. Mr Jennings told the Connaught Telegraph last night: "You will bee positive benefits to the local community every six to eight weeks for the next year." Mr Richard Wynne chairman of the Castlebar Information Age Town Project said one of the first initiatives to be undertaken by Telecom Eireann would be the installation of voice mail for all digital customers in the Castlebar area, hopefully by the end of this month. The voice mail facility should be available to all customers in the area by the end of February next. Mr Gerry O'Sullivan, head of Corporate Relations with Telecom Eireann has visited Castlebar where he discussed the sending of £1m. Mr Jennings added: " We were pleasantly surprised in relation to the very positive attitude and response we have received from Telecom Eireann. "We have applied for the £1m. to be spent in specific ways. In each of the areas we had applied for we have been granted the go-ahead." He said as part of their submission to Telecom they highlighted the establishment of the RTC in Castlebar. "We are looking to have greater co-operation in relation to courses being run in the RTC for information technology. We want these courses to grow there as well as establishing incubator units and industry on the campus. "This £1 development allows us to continue our negotiations with Mayo County Council and the relevant authorities for the development of industry in relation to the information age coming to Castlebar. "We are currently compiling a CV of Castlebar whilch will list all of the facilities that are available. This will be sent to all the infornation age industries who are seeking to establish in Ireland." A specific sum of the allocation is to be targeted for a schools programme and they are to co-operate with the Mayo Teacher Training Centre in organising training courses.. Mr Wynne said they were examining the prospect of having computers provided for every home in the town. However, it would be about three months before they would have details of this project He added: "The people of Castlebar can be assured that the £1m we have received will be put to worthy and practical use to allow the information age project grow." The Information Age Town office was to have closed last week. But through the intervention of Telecom Eireann and the response they had received locally they had taken a decision to open a permanent office and staffing would be put in place in the near future. |
