Eircom pulls out of Ennis high-tech project

Almost five years after Ennis became Ireland's Information Age Town, Eircom yesterday ended its interest in the project although €3 million remains to be spent on the venture.

Mr Des McLaughlin, Eircom's manager of information age projects, said cost was not a decision in the company's decision to withdraw. "We have achieved everything we set out to achieve. I am not aware of any project world-wide of this scale that had all the sectors of the community involved or the breadth of projects that have gone on."

Ennis beat off competition from 49 other towns in September 1997 to claim the €19 million prize. In the following months, Ennis homes were equipped with PCs, the town's schools received 500 PCs while a €4 million budget was allocated for Ennis's businesses. The town also became a test-bed for new technologies, most notably an effort to become the State's first cashless society through smart cards - an initiative that proved a failure with very little take-up.

The first independent survey published into the project last September found that 52 per cent of people were not sure whether the project had met expectations, while online shopping was no higher than elsewhere in Ireland.

It also found that, at 75 per cent, home ownership of PCs in Ennis was twice the national average and the level of internet connections almost three times the national average.

Due to Eircom's withdrawal, Ennis Information Age Town Company will cease to exist and a new private company, Ennis Information Age Services, will now have responsibility of spending the remaining €3.1 million in the fund.

The company's chief executive, Mr Michael Byrne, said the money would be spent over the next 10 to 12 months on projects already committed, along with providing seed capital for the establishment of the new company.

He said the Information Age Town project had been an outstanding success.

The new company - which will employ 20 people - will be a service provider to local authorities, Government Departments, non-profit agencies, the corporate sector and EU projects.

Mr Byrne said any profit would be channelled back into Ennis through the Ennis Information Age Town Task Force - the voluntary group that made the original bid that won the prize.