People are 'at wit's end' over phone coverage in Mayo 

Several areas in West Mayo have poor or non-existent phone service coverage and local councillors are demanding that service providers step up to the mark. 

At the January meeting of Westport Belmullet Municipal District, Cllr Chris Maxwell said he has had "numerous representations from residents on Clare Island where they reckon their phone coverage is non-existent at times". 

"They have checked with providers and sent in their handsets but nobody knows what is going on and they are at their wit's end. Panic buttons are connected into them for safety and people paying their bills are not getting a service. 

"It is a serious problem there and a similar thing is happening in Louisburgh - in from Thallabaun, where there is no coverage; or when you are on the phone to someone, the line goes down and the call is lost. 

"People are just frustrated and wondering why is this happening in this day and age and is there a specific problem in West Mayo and on the two islands.” 

Mayo County Council’s Broadband Officer Danny O’Toole said he was very aware of the problem and encouraged councillors to continue agitating for the service, adding: “Just last week I engaged with Vodafone on this and they have acknowledged there is an issue and it seems to be a Vodafone issue with the islands. It is up to Mayo to keep the fire lit on this until it is resolved.” 

He added that changing provider can solve the problem in many cases.

“I encourage people to shop around and get a free month’s trial to see if that works. I am aware many people in Mayo are acutely suffering because of lack of coverage, it is something that takes up a lot of time and is something that isn’t going away but it is gathering momentum as an issue and I am glad to hear it being raised here politically also.” 

Cllr Paul McNamara said: “We are having the same issues in Achill. In some areas it just goes down and then there are blackspots, and we seem to be getting even more of these, particularly on the road from Castlebar through Mulranny and down to Achill” 

He added: “Broadband is a gamechanger in rural areas in terms of giving people choice to work remotely and where it is working 100%, that opens up huge opportunities for people and families with school-going children to move away from urban centres and the east coast over to the west.” 

Cllr Sean Carey said pockets along the R312 road from Castlebar to Belmullet also have poor coverage.

“You get a call and it is gone then every few seconds. The service is cruel along there and also in many villages in North Mayo. Broadband is a huge advantage to have and it is so important everyone has a good service.” 

He said there was also a landline issue, stating: “In one instance the provider wrote to an 87-year-old man living by himself saying they were no longer providing a landline service. This man was months and months without service - he needs it for the emergency pendant alarm and it was very distressing for him. For the provider to do that to him was wrong.” 

Cllr Gerry Coyle said the Vodafone service was “a waste of space” whereas heretofore the 087 code service “used to be great”, while Cllr John O’Malley said he can’t understand how people that had coverage now have disruption all the time. 

“A neighbour with an 087 Vodafone connection has to travel three miles to get coverage. Another elderly lady in Clogher, her line also went and there was no storm or nothing. People get scared because they can’t contact anyone when this happens. Why does it keep going off?” 

Mr O’Toole explained: “Once an area is passed by the national broadband plan and fibre is available, there is a copper switch-off taking place, so quite a lot of copper service providers are discontinuing the service over the copper line because of this in the knowledge that the customer can order fibre coverage now.” 

He added that coverage is “an ongoing issue throughout the county”, stating that the new N5 in Turlough is also problematic.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.