BROADBAND Connections Points - BCPs
- might not be something everyone is
familiar with but they are quickly becoming
focal points for rural communities across
Tipperary. Luckily for Tipperary we have
21 BCPs dotted around the county which
initially provided free wi-fi access to the
public, however, Tipperary BCP’s didn’t stop
there as they have become a recognised
leader in the field of digital learning,
community events and education centres.
WHAT ARE BCPS?
Funded by the Dept of Rural & Community
Development and set up by Tipperary County
Council, BCPs offer high-quality digital
connectivity, supporting the sustainability of
rural communities by enabling more people
to continue to live and work in rural locations.
They also encourage others to relocate to
rural areas. Tipperary’s BCPs are widely
viewed as long-term community assets,
fixtures of their communities, providing next
generation services to the county’s rural
heartlands. BCPs have proven invaluable to
local communities, supporting older people
to live independently in their communities
with access to more supports and services
through connected technologies. In short,
BCPs provide a better quality of life for
people living in rural locations.
AWARDS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
BCPs many of which have won national
awards on the strength of services enabled
by the BCPs have become game-changers
for the communities they are based in, as
evidenced in last year’s .IE Digital Town.Awards, which highlight the benefits and possibilities of digital and celebratethe digital achievements of towns and communities across Ireland. Tipperary
communities featured prominently in the
awards. Clonmel was crowned overall winner,
as well as winning the Agri-tech category for
its pilot programme, ‘Smart Skills for Farming
Communities’. This saw digital skills learned
through BCPs put to use in technologies to
make farmers’ work easier, improving the
profitability and sustainability of their farms.
Rossmore Scratchers won the Community
Digital Award for the coding club they
established through their Broadband
Connection Point. Rossmore also featured
on a TG4 An Nuacht highlighting of remote
working facilities in BCPs. Boher BCP was also a finalist at the .IE Awards in the categories of Newcomer and Digital Rising Star.
Like Rossmore, the Boher BCP enabled the
establishing of an award-winning coding club
- ‘Boher Bytes’.
BCP’s & DIGITAL INNOVATION
Boher BCP hosted the launch in 2022 of
Microsoft Dream Space, a partnership
between Tipperary County Council and
Microsoft Ireland aimed at closing the
digital divide that often exists in rural
Ireland with regard to young people and
the opportunities to develop their STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts,
and Mathematics) education. This local
BCP is now delivering digital programmes
in the likes of artificial intelligence,
while also offering higher education opportunities in collaboration with Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
Elsewhere, Terryglass BCP has gained
national recognition as a finalist in the Better
Farming Awards 2023. Gurtagarry BCP was
chosen to represent Munster BCPs as part of
a national promotional campaign for BCP’s
nationally. The BCP at Ballinderry offers
digital skills training for mature members of
the community in association with Tipperary
ETB, as well as OurKidsCode run by Trinity
College Dublin, wherein parents participate
in creative computing workshops alongside
their children. OurKidsCode is available in
every BCP location.
Over 250 Tipperary national school students
and their teachers showcased their digital
schools at the inaugural Microsoft Ireland
‘Dream Space Den’ event last June. Rossmore
and Boher were among the prize winners again, as were Killoscully Coding Club, Birdhill
National School, Drom NS and Lackamore NS
- all supported by their local BCP.
At the Public Sector Digital Transformation
Awards 2023, Tipperary was along with
Longford Co Council shortlisted as finalists
in two categories - Best Community
Engagement and Digital Skills.
A BRIGHT FUTURE
As can be seen, Tipperary has a vibrant
network of BCPs. A number of the pilot
projects outlined above are being replicated
in other local authority areas. Tipperary
County Council through their Digital Strategy
look forward to continuing the delivery of
initiatives that bridge the digital divide and
improve rural accessibility to education,
ehealth and arts.
