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It’s a case of the good, the bad and the ugly as far as broadband speeds in the Cooley peninsula are concerned.

The villages of Carlingford and Omeath have recently benefited from the installation of high speed fibre optic cable.

‘ The Internet is an essential marketing and advertising tool for our business,’ explains Cormac McCann of the tourism accommodation website VisitCarlingford. ‘ As we do not exist fully in bricks-andmortar form, VisitCarlingford. com and our other websites represent the entire store front we offer to the buying public. High speed internet is a fundamental requirement which enables our business to interact and deliver professional services to our customers.’

He explains that: ‘previously our internet speed and our provider were less than sufficient, this meant that we could not deliver services and customer experiences at a speed which we felt was acceptable.’

‘ The overdue addition of new high speed fibre broadband in Carlingford has meant that we now can streamline business activities more effectively, communicate more efficiently with customers and even generate new customers or clients—all while helping to reduce business expenses.’

However, he points out ‘ the surrounding rural broadband infrastructure is struggling to support the increasing number of Internet-capable devices in homes and businesses. We strongly believe that more investment is absolutely vital for the continued economic and social growth of the region.’

Neighbouring Greenore is one of the centres crying out for improved broadband.

‘High speed broadband is a major issue,’ confirms Frank McCann of Greenore Port. ‘ There is fibre optic cable coming out this way but it turns left to Carlingford and hasn’t got this far.’