Ennis

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Ennis
The Information Age Town
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A Project by
Karl McCullagh
Claire McDonough
Lauren Morris
Helen Murphy
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Effects on Education in Ennis
Reasons for choosing Ennis

• Of the 17,726 inhabitants, 40 are
• under the age of 24 years.

• There are 7 primary schools and 5
• secondary schools in the town.

• Located close to UCG, UL, LIT and GIT.

• Offers a wide range of adult education
• courses and evening classes.

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Result of the grants

• Every school has been supplied with a generous
  number of computers.

• Each computer is equipped with learning
• programs, Internet access and conferencing
• equipment.

• Every student and teacher has an E-mail
• address.

• Countless new evening classes and adult
• education programs have been started.

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Effects on the Community of Ennis

• Dell Pentium II Multimedia PCs have been
  delivered at a rate of 250 per week to 75 of the
  towns 5,500 households

• In order to maximise the benefits of this
  project, it was decided that all those as yet
  unfamiliar with technology should receive free
  training to find out how to best use their new
  facilities.

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• All telephones in Ennis are equipped with
  voicemail and other call management facilities,
  while percentages of homes with telephones in
  Ennis is now the highest in the country

• An Ennis website has been setup. It includes a
  listing of local businesses and community and
  voluntary organisations. It also has information
  on local events and history attractions.

• The program has also included the introduction
  of smart-card technology and electronic purses
  for everyday purchases

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Effects on the Individual in Ennis

• Ennis in the beginning-

• Initial level of IT awareness.

• Widespread computer installation-

• How did TE distribute the computers.

• Phone and Voicemail coverage-

• The statistics.

• The response to the project-

• Is the project everything it promised?

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Results of the questionnaire

• Feelings at the start of the project.

• Feelings after reaping the benefits of the
• project.

• Increase in knowledge of the underlying
• technology involved in the project.

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Effects on Business in Ennis

• 2 million allocated for the improvement of
• technology in business.

• An Internet for Business seminar was
• held to explain the advantages of the
• internet and web-sites as important
• business tools.

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• A sub-committee was formed to examine
• how information technology could improve
• the services provided by the Government
• and Public Bodies.

• Attracting new industry

-Three growth areas have been targeted as
vital for attracting industry to Ennis.
-The Chamber of Commerce has predicted that
Ennis will be able to attract up to 3
teleworking companies over the first 3 years.