Phone services are still out in some areas

Lingering storm damage in the form of hanging telecommunications cables and displaced poles are putting people in danger and must be removed, members of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District have stated.

Cllr Gerry Coyle told last month's meeting of the council that phone lines were hanging down and poles were lying across roads throughout the Erris region. He asked could the council apply enforcement orders on the utility companies to have remedial works carried out, adding: “I know if I had my clothesline or sheep wire or pole hanging on the road, I would get a letter rapid from the council.” 

Cllr Coyle said he knew a man who got an enforcement order for a sheep pen about a mile from the road “yet we have poles out on the road and no enforcement".

Cllr Paul McNamara said the lack of phone coverage had been raised at every meeting over the last 12 months, adding: “It is time Mayo County Council took the bull by the horns because what is going on with the Eir network in rural areas is ridiculous and would not be tolerated in any urban town and certainly not along the east coast at all, even for a day.

“I still have people ringing me who are without phone service or a connection for their emergency pendants weeks after Storm Éowyn, and that is the only connection some of them have. The state of their network is appalling. If a local farmer erected three or four poles like that along the road how many letters would be going out to him from every section of Mayo County Council between planning and roads? He would be inundated. They are a health and safety issue. No private contractor would get away with such a job.” 

The Achill councillor continued: “On the N59 Newport to Mulranny Road, a line is hanging right along the road for the last eight months. The authorities have to start taking action."

Cllr McNamara also read out an email from “an extremely worried" woman living in the UK whose elderly mother has been left without a phone line or emergency pendant since the storm. 

Cllr John O’Malley said there were wires "all over the roads" that were a danger to the public. He had particularly harsh criticism for Eir.

“They are the most useless company that ever I have seen because they do nothing. You see a van coming around but then they drive off and the wires are still on the road. They are a hazard now.”

Cllr Brendan Mulroy said it was clear rural Ireland is being badly let down, adding: “There is no way of contacting anyone when your phone line is down. If this is the service they are providing rural Ireland it is not good enough.” 

Cllr Chris Maxwell said the state of the telecommunications network in rural Ireland was "a total disgrace" and he could not understand why nothing is being done about it.

“I have people on the phone every day still asking can I help to get their phone lines back since the storm and we cannot do a thing on it. Then they tell me when they call the utility, some foreign national answers the phone to them, our people can’t understand them and these people can’t understand them and some are left waiting on the phone for hours. 

"I can’t understand why they don't get help from outside Ireland like the ESB. I know that took a bit of time but it was fixed in a few weeks. 

"This is a sickener for people, it cannot be tolerated. We need action and pressure from the council on those telecommunication companies to get on with the show.

“The ESB made a profit of around €830 million last year and said they would reinvest it into their network. I hope these telecommunications companies can tell us what they are doing with their profits and tidy up rural Ireland again.”

Cathaoirleach Cllr Sean Carey said the situation was “something shocking with lines hanging over the roads".

“Some of them have just been tied back with a bit of rope to a few stakes... These loose lines are a disgrace and a health and safety hazard. People are travelling these roads and are so afraid these overhanging lines will come down on them, they are a real source of danger."

The head of the district Seamus O'Mongáin said he would “take away the feedback and write to the relevant service providers”, but that failed to impress Cllr McNamara.

“We should be doing more - not writing, but serving notice from the local authority regarding their wires hanging over and along the roads. Mayo County Council has told us that trees on farmers' lands lying out over the road are the responsibility of the farmer yet we can’t serve notice on the people that own this network. It should be done immediately. It is time this is dealt with.” 

Mr O'Mongáin said there had been no response from the utility companies to a previous call from the council to answer questions and suggested that the council was powerless to intervene as the firms were not under their remit.

Director of Services Joanne Grehan added that they could write again to the service providers but that “they have their own statutory responsibility so I am not sure if we have any authority over them as utilities”.