This page dates from August 1997 and gives an idea of the excitement prior to the Information Age Town competition. Some 5000 people came out to demonstrate their support on the Mall on 25 August 1997.

Castlebar Information Age Town

* The people of Castlebar have made a date with the future. Telecom Eireann is promoting an Information Age Town Competition and Castlebar has been shortlisted down to the last four towns in the competition. The town is busily preparing for the last stage of the competition.

Ciat BannerCastlebar is buzzing with excitement about the Telecom competition. Thousands of people have already visited the Information Age Centre on Ellison St. to see some practical examples of the new technologies proposed and to surf the Net free of charge. Support is coming in from all over Mayo.

* The potential value of the project to the town is £15 million in infrastructure alone! Winning this project would give Castlebar an amazingly high profile throughout the world and provide a very strong attraction for information technology investors.

* The new technology available will dramatically improve quality of life for all the people of Castlebar and surrounds. As a result the competition has gripped the imagination of everyone here. Everyone is talking about it.

* Because of the nature of the Castlebar Information Age Town proposal, EVERYONE will benefit regardless of age or means - there will be no `haves' and `have nots' in Castlebar.

* Castlebar's young people will be computer-literate when they leave school opening up more opportunities for them and giving them a great headstart.

* New investment and job opportunities will be attracted to Castlebar if it becomes the `Information Age Town'.

* The judging panelvisited Castlebar on Monday 25th August. The final decision will be known by the end of September.

Send us e-mail info@castlebar.ie or sign the guest page.