‘High demand’ for summer scheme leads to registration problems

FERMANAGH and Omagh District Council (FODC) has blamed ‘exceptionally high demand’ for problems experienced during the launch of its Summer Programme for Kids.

The scheme opened for bookings last Thursday morning at 8am – but many parents reported being met with broken links and long delays when attempting to register their children.

A council spokesperson said the issue was caused by an overwhelming volume of traffic to the council’s website.

One Omagh parent, who wished to remain anonymous, criticised the council for what they described as a ‘disastrous launch’.

“Firstly, the council decided to announce this launch at 8am in the morning on a school day.

“What parent is meant to see this and take the time to get themselves registered whilst getting kids ready for school?

“Luckily enough I was on my day off, so I clicked on at 8.05am and was met by an error screen, as the website or the link was obviously broken. So then the council released another link to the website on the same post.

“When I finally did get on, it took 45 minutes to register just one child for one week,” they said.

In response, a spokesperson for FODC said the issue was caused by an overwhelming volume of traffic to the council’s website.

“The 2025 Summer Scheme programme and registration window was promoted more than a week in advance of registration opening via the council’s website, social media channels and to local media.

“Online bookings opened at 8am on May 15. This time has been used previously, and was selected again this year to provide a consistent booking experience in the morning before the average work and school day commences.

“Our website experienced some technical issues shortly after registration opened on 15 May due to the exceptionally high volume of traffic.

“This was identified and addressed as quickly as possible to minimise disruption.”