Region leading the bandwidth boom

Cavan and Monaghan see surge in data usage

On a wet back road out of Ballyjamesduff or even Ballybay, behind drawn curtains, houses glow at night with Netflix streaming in 4K, Zoom calls connecting friends from London to Ljubljana, and kids confidently streaming YouTube tutorials to help with homework (or gaming with their friends online). Nothing remarkable, at least not now. Except 10 years ago, the people living in those same houses mightn’t have been able to download an email without waving their phone close to the window.

This is the story of Cavan and Monaghan - two counties long defined by agriculture, emigration, and self-reliance, mocked for their bad roads, but now quietly becoming some of the most data-hungry places in the country, according to eir’s first Digital Ireland Report.

Cavan, notably, was ahead of the curve. SIRO broadband arrived early (2016) - long before ‘remote’ or ‘hybrid-working’ were commonplace terms in job descriptions. It was years before the government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) began too, which only started surveying in early 2020.

By 2019, the Cavan Digital Hub, a cornerstone of the county council’s strategy to foster innovation, was crowned Ireland’s latest Gigabit Hub. In hindsight, that early investment now reads like foresight.

According to eir’s report, by 2025, mobile users in Cavan were consuming an average of 18.01GB per customer per month, while fixed broadband usage surged from 5,400GB annually in 2022 to 6,600GB by 2024. Hardly just down to casual scrolling.

Cavan now ranks alongside Meath and Offaly at the forefront of Ireland’s broadband revolution, with data usage up nearly 80% since 2019.

Monaghan isn’t far behind, with mobile users consuming 15.88GB per month in 2025, and fibre-connected homes increasing from 5,100GB in 2022 to 6,100GB in 2024.

Dead Zones to Data Zones

Cavan was also one of the first areas to be included in the NBI rollout, with local provider Arden & Brisknet Broadband, based in Belturbet, tasked with connecting the very first customer.

Paul Cullen, the company’s Chief Technical Officer, has witnessed the transformation first-hand.

“Customers who had poor speeds or no broadband at all are now getting 500Mb, 1Gb, and in some cases, even 5Gb broadband speeds,” he explains.

Nationally, broadband traffic has more than doubled since 2019, and mobile data usage has increased sevenfold, says the new eir report, published last week and launched by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.

Fibre households now consume the equivalent of 10 hours of HD video per day, and according to Paul, usage patterns reveal a familiar story across the board. Streaming services - YouTube, Netflix, Sky IPTV - now dominate the traffic.

“Families don’t rely on traditional TV schedules anymore,” he says. “Children are streaming constantly.”

Yet the most significant shift he suggests is in how people are working.

“People aren’t just sending a couple of emails any more,” Paul notes. “They’re transacting huge volumes of data.”

And there’s something else happening: a reversal of traffic flow.

“The traffic that used to be concentrated in cities like Dublin has now moved to rural areas.”

Broadband, Paul adds, is now viewed as “critical infrastructure”.

Drumlins and Digital

Monaghan County Council agrees.

Brian Barrett, Head of Information Systems & Digital Innovation says broadband is “essential” to how people work, conduct business, and access services.

The NBI rollout leveraged existing infrastructure, primarily owned by eir, to roll out the infrastructure. The strategy involved using existing poles and underground ducts to speed up deployment and minimise disruption. However, there has been much discussion of late with storms becoming more frequent and ferocious, and blackouts increasingly common.

The issue has been discussed locally both at Monaghan and Cavan County councils, the latter most recently, where Sinn Féin’s Stiofán Conaty tabled a motion calling for more accountability on managing and better maintaining the national rural overhead network of roadside poles.

“It’s no longer a luxury,” says Brian of the demand for internet connectivity. “It’s a daily necessity.”

Momentum though, he tells the Celt, is “building”, particularly with the impending introduction of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA), set to replace the 2014 Broadband Cost Reduction Directive.

“Realistically there may never be 100% coverage, at least not in the near future. But the technology is constantly evolving. We now have gigabit infrastructure, which is shaping how the next generation of broadband will be rolled out over the coming months and years,” Brian explains.

“We need to ensure our county is fully aligned with that.”

Global Work, Local Lives

Ollie Brady, founder of digital optimisation firm Ceol Digital, has been working remotely since before it was fashionable. His business helps improve online visibility and organic search rankings for websites and his clients range from local businesses in Cavan to a large environmental B Corp in New Zealand.

Over the past 25 years, Ollie has witnessed first-hand the seismic change in how people source information online. “Everything people do now is data-heavy,” he explains. “They’re streaming YouTube for tutorials, Netflix and Amazon Prime in the evenings, and TikTok for business use.”

Connectivity is key. The irony? “You tried calling me earlier on my GSM (mobile), and couldn’t get through,” Ollie chuckles.

Hills still block signals, but new satellite technologies like Elon Musk’s Starlink are increasingly filling the gaps.

“I can do Zoom, Google Meet, video calls without issue. I recently spoke to a client in London - location doesn’t matter any more.”

Hubs and Hustle

In Monaghan town, The Station House has become an important hub for remote workers. “We’re not strictly a ‘digital hub’,” shares Paul Bowe. Instead, its stands as a modern “business hall”.

Psychotherapists sit next to TV producers, consultants next to freelancers. “Everyone works digitally. Nobody has filing cabinets any more.”

When people operate entirely on screens and in clouds, Paul states that “reliability” is crucial. “Most people here are solo operators or small teams, all connected to work happening far beyond Monaghan.”

Stephen Greer is one such person. He works for a US-based digital publishing company, and moved home to Monaghan during Covid when he began working remotely. “My home broadband isn’t reliable enough, so I depend on satellite internet.”

Even still, without a place like The Station House, he states: “I couldn’t do my job.”

Counties that compete

A decade ago, scaling the growth of a digital business in a rural county like Cavan seemed impossible to many. Today, it’s an entirely different story. Donal De Paor’s Prodigy, a tech firm based at the Cavan Digital Hub that will soon celebrate 10 years in business, is one of several major local success stories.

“Companies like ClubSpot, ApriData, and Trave wouldn’t be here without the hub, and without reliable, high-speed internet,” says Donal, who enjoys 1,000Mbps speeds at his own home.

These digital tools, he tells the Celt, are “essential” to running a growing global business.

Prodigy’s currently competing to land clients spanning North America, Europe, Asia. “For the companies we work with, 24/7 access is non-negotiable… 10 years ago, that simply wasn’t possible in Cavan.”

As of early 2026, National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is set to complete the National Broadband Plan, with significant progress made in Cavan and Monaghan.

In Cavan, over 13,860 premises are now broadband-ready, with 4,450 already connected.

Monaghan has seen similar advances, with 12,100 premises passed and 4,900 connected.

In total, 28 new Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) have also been installed across both counties, providing digital access at community centres, sports halls, and libraries.

However, challenges do still remain. John McArdle, one of Monaghan’s broadband officers, points out that while most rural areas have access to high-speed broadband, some urban areas still face obstacles.

“Urban spaces can be more complicated due to existing infrastructure - old phone lines, buried cables, and outdated set-ups,” John explains. He stresses that the solution must come from the government, potentially through targeted initiatives, investment, or even extending the NBP further.

“The Department of Communications needs to examine these problems and find solutions, either through extending the National Broadband Plan or implementing targeted initiatives for areas left behind.”

‘Job isn’t finished’

Minister of State for Trade Promotion, AI, and Digital Transformation, Niamh Smyth, states that addressing gaps in broadband service, particularly for older residents and smaller businesses, is a top “priority” and acknowledges that the job at hand is far from “finished”.

“The people of Cavan and Monaghan now have the same digital opportunities as anyone in a major city,” she says, recognising the “huge strides” made to date in Cavan and Monaghan in embracing digital development.

She concludes by pointing to the upcoming AI and Digital Strategy, which will “focus on the practical steps needed to make sure everyone, regardless of their age or where they live, is included in Ireland’s digital future”.