Belmullet area has lowest broadband coverage in Mayo

THE Belmullet electoral area recorded the lowest percentage of broadband internet use of any electoral Mayo.

According to the latest Census figures, almost three-quarters of households in Mayo say they have broadband, totalling 38,640 of households (74.31 percent).

A further 6,965 households said they did not have a broadband connection (13.40 percent) while 6,391 households responded as ‘not stated’ or ‘other’.

The Belmullet area - who also covers Achill - recorded the lowest percentage of broadband access, with 65.44 percent of households (3,263) saying they had broadband while 18.89 percent (942 households) said they had none.

In the Ballina electoral area, 75.27 percent of households (7,403) had broadband coverage while 14.15 (1,392) percent said they were not covered.

The Castlebar electoral area had the lowest percentage of households without broadband in Mayo, with 10.80 percent (1,290 households).

In Claremorris, 12.84 percent of households (1,387) had no broadband while 74.49 percent (8,047) said they did.

Swinford recorded similar figures with 73.57 percent (5,727) saying they had broadband compared to 1,599 (1,146) who had no broadband.

Westport had just 808 households (11.13 percent) without broadband compared to 5,462 (75.23 percent) who said they had broadband internet.

One woman living in the Drummin area who cannot access broadband described not having access to broadband as ‘a struggle’.

As she has no mobile phone signal, she must drive three miles from her home to access emails and make online payments. She is also unable to work from home.

“I’m a farmer, so I can’t do anything online, I can’t do any courses online, everything is online now. There’s nothing I can do at home. You need the internet for everything now. It’s a struggle out there,” she told The Mayo News.

Her home is due to receive broadband connectivity under the National Broadband Plan in December 2026.

Work recently commenced in the Killadoon area in West Mayo to deliver high-speed broadband to over 1,000 premises under the National Broadband Plan.

There are 7,229 Mayo premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed broadband, with 2,050 already connected to the network.