Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have written to Carolan Lennon, the CEO of Eir. We might as well be writing to Santa Claus. The company has no respect for its customers. I again pay tribute to its workers. A good friend and neighbour of mine, Pádraig O'Ceallaigh, who retired recently after 42 years, and his colleagues, have been travelling around the country in vans. Those workers are travelling 100 miles and more to do repairs. Eir does not have the staff on the ground and it does not have the interest.

The Minister read out his reply and I know he is a decent man. I thank him for agreeing to come to Tipperary where I will show him some of the conditions of the network. It is the land of his forebears as well. The reply that he read, however, is patronising, insulting and it is toilet paper. It is disgraceful. The Minister referred to waiting an hour on a call, but it is not possible for people to get through, sometimes for months. They ring every day for months. They do not get through to staff in Eir and they do not get a call back. Customers find it impossible to get their lines disconnected, and it is equally impossible to get a phone put in. People are flocking away from the company, and it is faltering and about to fail. It will fail.

Then there is the issue of Eir broadband. I know of people living 50 yards and 100 yards away from where it stops and they cannot get it.

Those affected include sick people who want appointments.

There is a listening service called Good Morning South Tipperary in the small village of Newcastle in south Tipperary. Wonderful volunteers go in every Monday and ring elderly, vulnerable and lonely people. Alone has also come on board and I salute that. That service is no good if people do not have, and cannot get, phone lines. Those people cannot make complaints. Some of those people do not have computers and are not able to do that kind of stuff. Our elderly people who looked after this country and built it up are being blackguarded, not to mention business people, farmers and young people. It is a shame.

To see the state of the network now would make one sad. Wires and poles are hanging into fields from the road. The poles are rotten and dangerous. I was in a council yard yesterday morning and servicemen from a private contractor had to come in to look for signs before they attempted a road job to fix a pole that was hanging over the road and posing a danger to the public. It is like "Dad's Army". It is crazy stuff and if the Minister and the Government do not do something about this, more shame on them. The Government is going to abandon its citizens during this time of Covid-19 when they are feeling lonely and isolated and the only contact they have is the guthán in their hand to have a chat and caint with their friends. It is a shame. Those people are prisoners in their own houses and have no communication with the outside world.

I am depending on the Minister. This matter has been raised several times and has got worse. The phone companies have no interest in serving the public because all they want is the money and to hell with the people. ComReg should be disbanded because it is useless, toothless and fruitless. It provides jobs for the boys, that is all. ComReg states that its representatives have talked to the phone companies but it is a waste of time.

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