Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge and share the Minister's frustration. My own iPhone has no data and I cannot make or hold calls whereas I could do that ten years ago. A con is being perpetrated on the public. We are paying fees and taxpayers' money is going into this. Fees are being waived while the masts are going up but there is no service. It is like liquorice allsorts, where you pick out the nicest one. They are turning off the mobile service to boost the broadband. It is a farce in rural Ireland. I can pick ten areas between Cahir and Dublin where I lose service completely on a national motorway, never mind it happening on the highways and byways in places like Mullinahone, where people cannot do business and families are begging me to make it possible for them to work from home. This would cut down emissions and make life better for people in every way but they cannot do it. Mullinahone, Hollyford and the Glen of Aherlow are no-go areas and it is the same in many areas of Clonmel, a major town in the county, and right up to Thurles. The service is not there and it is slipping by the day. We are being conned by con artists who are telling us they are doing this. They are getting money for jam. They are getting money under false pretences because the service is not there.

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