Athlone school and local scout group get grants from broadband fund

A local primary school and an Athlone-based scout group have been announced as two of the grant recipients from a community fund set up by National Broadband Ireland.

The 2nd Westmeath Scout Group was awarded €1,000 from the RISE Community Fund.

Cloonakilla National School in Bealnamulla, Athlone, was also awarded a €1,000 grant from the fund.

Patricia Cunniffe, Technology Coordinator at Cloonakilla NS, said: "Cloonakilla National School was delighted to meet National Broadband Ireland (NBI) chairman, David McCourt, and we are thrilled to receive the NBI grant.

"We have a fantastic tech team in the school and wish to purchase two tablets and a C pen to foster the love of digital skills and reading and create a lifelong hobby for our pupils."

The RISE Community Fund is supported by National Broadband Ireland as well as corporate sponsors including KN Circet, KPMG, Test Triangle, DreamDev Technologies, and TLI Group.

In a statement announcing the community funding, National Broadband Ireland (NBI) said almost 12,000 properties in Westmeath were now able to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband on its network, which is being rolled out as part of the Government’s National Broadband Plan.

"We received an amazing number of entries from people looking to embrace new technologies to scale the impact of their work, which paints a bright future for rural communities such as Athlone,” said David McCourt, Chairman of NBI and founder of the RISE community fund.

Welcoming its funding award, Sean Mimnagh, of the 2nd Westmeath Scout Group, commented: "We've been established in Athlone since 1930 and are proud to cater for a wide range of ages with outdoor activities, games and fun learning experiences.

"With this grant from RISE and the support from NBI and its partners, we’re able to invest in new technologies such as radio equipment so that our scout leaders can gain confidence taking young people out for activities in our remote surroundings.

"The RISE and NBI grants are a fantastic initiative that empower community groups like ours to use connectivity and technology to improve people's everyday lives," said Mr Mimnagh.