A number of high-tech solutions to improve telecoms systems in the Black Valley near Killarney were discussed yesterday by members of an all-party Oireachtas committee who visited the area, writes Anne Lucey.
The valley between Kenmare and Killarney has no mobile phone or internet service, and is served by a radio link battery-operated phone system. Now the 80 residents say the radio link Rurtel system is no longer adequate and sometimes breaks down completely.
Noel O'Flynn, chairman of the Joint Committee on Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources, said fibre cable could provide a solution to the Black Valley's telecoms problems. "I see ESB poles," he said during a stop at the local national school. "I see no reason a fibre cable can't be put in.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue said the solution was a cellular system, but the county development plan prohibited a mast 1km from a building and applications by mobile phone companies were turned down on this basis. He called for changes to the development plan which would allow a €150,000 mast to be erected.
The Oireachtas group announced the school would next week be provided with a broadband internet service via satellite as part of a three-year project by the Department of Education and Science. Eircom was upgrading the Rurtel battery system, the group also said.