Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Lennon and Mr. Storey for being here. I also have a litany of issues and faults across County Wicklow from Blessington to Arklow to Wicklow town. There is a sense of frustration, anger, and isolation in many cases. Other members have referred to it. We are not going to fix all those issues today but in dealing with other utility companies, they often have a public representatives direct support line or email. I find Irish Water very good in particular. Could Eir establish something like that while we are dealing with and getting through the backlog of complaints?

It is important to acknowledge Eir's front-line staff, similar to front-line staff in many sectors, who have been working hard through Covid in difficult circumstances, in particular, the call centre staff, the technical support and engineers. It must be very demoralising for them to hear the company that they are working hard for and doing their best being dragged over the coals through the media. I acknowledge that the staff that I have dealt with have been working very, very hard. When we know staff are working hard, we need to examine management, infrastructure and engineering. I have a number of direct questions.

Are the 340,000 fibre to the home connections fibre to the internal router in the house or is there any element of old copper in the system?