Community I.T. Access is the trading name of North Kerry I.T. Network Ltd, a Social Economy Company, funded by FÁS and with support from the National Development Plan. This company was set-up in conjunction with North Kerry Together and other community groups, to address the lack of affordable I.T. access in the North Kerry area. It was identified that the elderly, long-term unemployed, lone parents, small-holders and other socially excluded groups of rural parts of North Kerry, were not getting the opportunities to access the Information Age.

Community I.T. Access has been operating for just over a year, with one centre in Tarbert, which has to date trained 200 adults on Basic and Intermediate computer Classes, while also giving access to the Internet and other services. A second centre in Ballybunion opened at the start of April. This has been developed with the support of North Kerry Together, FÁS and the Ballybunion Community Development Group. This centre will also operate as both a training centre and an I.T./tele-services facility in Ballybunion. During the summer months the centre will provide an Internet Café and Tourist Information service.

Our two centres in Ballybunion and Tarbert also offer Easter & Summer computer camps for children which have proved to be a great success. Ballybunion is a very busy tourist town with its wonderful beaches and world renowned Golf Course, so we expect to see large numbers of visitors using the centre during the summer to keep in touch with those at home.

We hope that Community I.T. Access will spread out over the entire North Kerry area over the next year and that by doing so; it will help to address the need for more affordable and local I.T. access. These centres are aimed at exploiting I.T. to achieve sustainable job growth for North Kerry. From September we will be offering E.C.D.L. and other accredited courses. We are also developing our web design business and this will be offered at a reasonable cost to community groups anxious to have a web presence but who cannot afford one at the moment.

We now have nine full-time staff and two part-time and we hope to recruit one more before the end of the year. This person will be responsible for offering Citizens advice and information to the public on a wide range of issues from legal, to consumer, to employment rights, through our network of rural centres.

Although, only operational for 15 months, we have come a long way in that time and have exciting plans for the coming year.

For more information on our organisation, please contact:

Máiréad O'Carroll,
Manager,
North Kerry I.T. Network Ltd,
58 Church St.,
Listowel,
Co. Kerry.
Ireland.