Call for Eir to maintain overhead network

A local councillor has asked that national telecoms provider Eir be held accountable for the management and maintenance of the national rural overhead network.

Sinn Féin’s Stiofán Conaty wants the Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan and government to rein in Eir who he said have “sole responsibility” for the infrastructure.

He noted that the most recent storm, Storm Goretti, had “yet again shown that the upper-management of Eir don’t seem to give a damn about the integrity of the rural overhead network, nor do they seem to give a damn about the customers, especially elderly people in remote areas, who rely on this network for their contact with friends, family and emergency services.”

Eir, he accused, has a “monopoly” on the physical telecommunication network in the 26 counties, a network which was “built using public money”.

“They should be accountable to the state and its citizens, but instead, Eir operates on the motive of profit above all else.”

But Cllr Conaty told the January monthly meeting of Cavan County Council that there exists a “disgraceful situation” whereby those living miles from rural exchanges are “forgotten about, because it is not worth Eir’s while financically to properly maintain the rural overhead network. There are a number of backroads in my locality littered with broken poles, cables are hanging from trees and into fields, and it is left to farmers to prop up wires on ditches and gates. The same situation is replicated all over the country and around County Cavan, and I am aware especially of the terrible state of lines coming from my own local exchange in Ballyhaise, but also in Stradone and Tullyvin.”

Due to a perceived “lack of maintenance” over many years, Cllr Conaty said faults are being serviced on a “firefighting and patchwork basis”, with many of the same issues recurring every few months and in the same locations. “Rural customers on copper lines in particular are being ignored when something goes wrong. There is also a major issue with lack of customer feedback. Customers are paying their bills and while there is a procedure to claim money back during an outage, this process is all online, it is tedious and confusing, and it is very restrictive for older people.”

Exempt from his criticisms are Eir’s ground staff, who Cllr Conaty said are “doing their best”.

“The issue is not with them. They go where they are told to go and they can only work with the physical network that they see. The issue is with the management structure, which operates within the confines of having to justify to superiors why they would spend money on unprofitable and remote phone lines. This is what happens when the profit motive takes over a public service.”

Cllr Conaty concluded by saying that Eir has “allowed their network to wither, in many places beyond the point of rescue. The network is a mess and it requires major investment and constant and ongoing care. Eir must take action and I am calling on the Minister and the Government to use whatever levers available to make sure this happens.”

Cllr Conaty received support for his comments from fellow party member, Noel Connell, and from Fine Gael’s Trevor Smith and Winston Bennett. Both said there are poles down in areas which make it difficult for vehicles to pass safely.