Hybrid Athlone meetings ‘may cost over €200,000’

The installation of video conferencing equipment to facilitate hybrid meetings from the council chamber in Athlone could cost more that €200,000, it has emerged.

Hybrid meetings, which can be attended either in person or online, came to the forefront during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Westmeath County Council has acknowledged that the Athlone Civic Centre is not properly equipped to host these meetings at present.

Director of Services Ambrose Clarke told this month's meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District that the cost of addressing this issue was likely to be somewhere between €150,000 and €220,000.

"You would nearly get a bicycle shed for that!" quipped Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, in reference to the controversy over the €335,000 bike shelter at Leinster House.

Mr Clarke said the council was seeking Government funding to facilitate the hybrid meetings, as it didn't wish to shoulder the financial burden from its own resources.

He said that the local authority's IT section was making an application to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for "a contribution towards the cost of installation of video conferencing facilities to facilitate remote attendance at meetings held in the Athlone Chamber".

Mr Clarke indicated that the council would commence the process of tendering for the video conferencing facilities once it had received a decision from the Department on its funding application.