Main pic: Gola Island. Image courtesy of Discover Ireland.
Work is expected to start later this year on bringing high-speed broadband to one of Donegal’s smallest islands.
National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has lodged a planning application for permission to install a 12 metre pole with a receiving dish at the Gaoth Dobhair GAA grounds at Magheragallon, Derrybeg.
According to planning documents, the development is required to carry the broadband data from the new high speed fibre network on Gola Island to the mainland by radio link. This will connect to the NBI national fibre network, “as part of the government’s national broadband plan to provide high speed broadband to all parts of the country that are not available commercially, including the islands, at the same data speed.”
The island of Gabhla (Gola) covers about one square mile (500 acres) and is situated about one mile from the pier at Magheragallon.
The census of 1841 recorded a population of 68 prior to the Famine. This rose steeply to 169 by the time of the 1911 census, in response to a boom in the fishing industry.
In the late 1960s, according to the Go Visit Donegal website, the island suffered a major population decline. This was due largely to the closure of the school in 1967. Fishing and farming at subsistence level had sustained them for centuries but could not compete with the attractions of mainland living or the better opportunities it now afforded.
In the last ten years, however, Gola has enjoyed a new lease of life and a number of islanders return there for the summer months. The launch of a regular ferry service has also been a great boost to the tourism industry of the island.
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