Mayo householders still without broadband after Storm Éowyn
A Mayo councillor has claimed that the phone and broadband services offered to consumers are in a state of collapse and urgently need regulation.
Fine Gael Cllr Cyril Burke told last week's Castlebar Municipal District meeting that the Eir network has “gone to the dogs” and said he was sure his fellow councillors were all having numerous calls in relation to storm damage to phone lines.
“It is outrageous so many people still don’t have connectivity to broadband and phone lines. A lot of people with emergency numbers don’t know who owns the lines or who to ring. When they do ring they are asked who their provider is and their reference number. They have to get out their bills then but these are now on the internet and the connection to that is gone.
“The whole thing is just in crisis. I am out for weeks now but today I managed to get a hold of someone in Vodafone after they sent me messages to say I was on their repair list. But this man today told me I was not even logged for having a fault. It is a right and complete mess. Poles and lines are thrown all across roads but nobody knows who is doing the service.”
Cllr Burke said the first thing people needed was to get the power back but some who had service restored after the storm have ended up losing the connection again.
“I don’t know what we can do as a local authority, is it to write to Eir and different providers to come in and have a discussion maybe? No more than with the ESB, there are a lot of lines too that are inaccessible. They used to have contracts for cutting the lines under the roads but that has not happened for years. The whole lines system must be in chaos.”
Cllr Michael Kilcoyne said it was shocking, particularly for people whose emergency pendants were disconnected because their phone service was also down. He said people presume their service provider supplies the phone lines but they are wrong.
"There must be 20 different suppliers of services now and they are all coming on the one line and people don’t know who to report to. The service these companies give to the public is deplorable so they don’t deserve any customers.”
On seeking help from service providers, Cllr Kilcoyne said: “If you ring Eir they will only talk to the customer directly and not somebody on their behalf. It is the same with the ESB and other services. On a regular basis, I deal with families through the funeral home and contact ESB to get the electricity switched over to the man’s wife or husband. The first thing they ask is could they talk to the named person, which they can’t because that person is deceased! This is just crazy stuff. I had this a week ago, they then hide behind GDPR saying it is because of data protection.”
Cllr Blackie Gavin seconded the call to invite the utility providers to a meeting. Cllr Donna Sheridan said she had got broadband through a local provider and strongly recommended it.
