Portarlington streets ‘cut up’ in summer to install fibre broadband

There will be pain before gain in Portarlington on the Laois Offaly border this summer, when a long planned new broadband scheme will see footpaths being dug up.

Virgin Media has informed Laois County Council that it intends installing infrastructure for fibre broadband rollout across the town starting in May.

As the pipes are laid, footpaths will be repaired behind them by Laois County Council, starting from the railway station toward the town.

Sinn Fein Cllr Aidan Mullins had sought an update on footpath repairs at the March meeting of the Graiguecullen Portarlington Municipal District.

“Paths in Portarlington are in a hideous state. This is good news if Virgin Media go ahead, but I got the same response last year. I wouldn’t be convinced based on their past record.” Cllr Mullins said.

The council has identified 2.6km of footpaths that need repairs in Portarlington.

Fine Gael Cllr Tom Mulhall was concerned for a loss of business.

“They are going to have to cut up the streets. The last contractor caused a lot of inconvenience. Footpaths were broken and there was interference with access to businesses. I would hope for the least inconvenience possible,” he said.

Cllr Mullins also asked if there would be ducting laid, for the future undergrounding of overhead wires while the paths are dug.

Senior council engineer John Ormond replied that this was still subject to agreement between the council and the company.