Free Wi-Fi in public realms in small villages and town centers

Wicklow is a dynamic, exciting and beautiful place to live, with amazing outdoor leisure spots and quaint villages to spend the weekends drinking coffee and relaxing. Over the coming years Bray will have new public places like the new town centre development and new housing in Fassaroe that we’ll have to cater for, while also improving standards of living elsewhere.

Wicklow needs to take the next step digitally and be the first county in Ireland to offer free Wi-Fi in public realms in small villages and town centres. We need to encourage more people to go to public realms, we need small businesses with niche merchandise to trade online with relative ease. By having Wi-Fi in public realms, it’ll act as a draw for locals who don’t have reliable access to these services at home, further enhancing our community.

As a local I know all too well the difficulties of getting fast and reliable Wi-Fi, it’s out of sync with the modern world and the latest debacle with the National Broadband Plan highlights this. If Wicklow wants its small businesses to survive on the high street, they need to make the high street an experience. We have most of the ingredients for this, great sights, culinary experiences; we just need to take the next digital evolution to enhance this.