County council meetings could go live online

The public in Westmeath may soon be able to watch county council meetings live online as the council go digital, encouraging people to go online to apply for grants and other services.

The council aim to roll out high speed broadband across the county and to get more people to go online. A broadband information kiosk has been set up in Mullingar and another is to be set one up in Athlone; six of eight broadband connections points are up and running and funding has been secured for smart benches in CLAR locations around the county.

Last year, the council gave digital training to 100 older people and some were loaned tablets, while tablets were also delivered to residential care centres. Research was carried out to identify the digital training needs of community groups and the findings influenced the IT training courses provided in communities.

Head of information systems, Simon McCabe, told a council Strategic Policy Committee last week of the measures being undertaken by the council to promote a digital first policy.

A key component of the strategy is the rolling out of high speed broadband across the county. They aim to develop and enhance access to wireless connectivity, raise awareness of the benefits and promote uptake of high speed broadband, and develop smart village and rural town infrastructure to drive its efficiency and uptake.

Digital options available to small and medium sized businesses have been enhanced through a range of supports. A new Tourism and Heritage App has been created along with an audio guide in Belvedere House and Gardens. An eBook portal and interactive programmes have been made available through the library.

Mr McCabe said that the council was putting emphasis through automation on enabling online and self-service facilities for citizens and businesses. An open data portal has been created and there has been a good uptake of online grant applications, he reported.

He said a new online form system was procured in 2021. That’s a big one that will give us a lot of room and legs to run with different ideas in the coming years to allow more efficient management of resources and more efficient processing of applications, he remarked.

Cllr Mick Dollard asked if there was a deficit in broadband in parts of the county, while Cllr Frankie Keena said he received a lot of enquiries on the roll-out of broadband in the Athlone Moate district.

Cllr Keena complained that one business on the east side of Athlone, employing 25 staff, had their backs to the wall because they could not get fibre broadband. He asked also if the information kiosk for Athlone could be fast-tracked and when council meetings would be live-streamed to the public.

Mark Keaveney, director of services, said that live streaming is being assessed in the council and Mr McCabe added that, as part of the new system, it should be possible to live stream meetings, the facilities are there to do so.

Mr McCabe said he would refer Cllr Dollard’s query to the broadband officer and added that National Broadband Ireland had a website which might provide some answers.

In reply to Cllr Keena, Mr McCabe said the council would continue to press for an information kiosk for Athlone. He invited Cllr Keena to send on the information on the business he mentioned. He undertook to see what he could do and to get the broadband officer to liaise with the relevant bodies.