Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise with the Taoiseach today the very important issue of the collapse of the repair and maintenance of service to Eir customers in south and west Kerry. I am inundated with calls from customers. There was a time when we had excellent repair and maintenance cover based at the Cahersiveen depot, which ceased in July 2021 when the last customer service technician retired. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were up to 30 technicians based in the Cahersiveen depot. They were excellent people who gave great service, with people such as Tom O'Shea who gave 46 years of loyal service, Dónal Clifford, Dave Fenton, Dermot Corkery and, in west Cork and west Kerry, Jim McCarthy. These people retired but were not replaced. They had local expertise, knowledge and experience and knew their customers and the terrain. Unfortunately, upon their retirement, they have not been replaced.

I know every last inch of the rugged beautiful coastline from Kenmare down through Sneem, Castlecove, Caherdaniel, Waterville, down into Portmagee, Ballinskelligs, over onto Valentia Island, up through Kells Bay and on over into Killorglin. I know every last inch of it, but unfortunately the Eir customers in that area are not getting the service they should have. I am asking the Taoiseach and the Government to intervene with Eir and to put people working on the ground. We need maintenance and repair people. The rugged coastline I have outlined to the House is beautiful but it gets a battering from the weather, which is why the poles, wires and whole service need to maintained.

I pay a very special thanks to the operations manager, Mr. Pat O’Sullivan, who always worked so diligently on behalf of all the customers and all of the other Eir staff, but they need help and people on the ground to carry out the basic maintenance that is required. Connectivity is so important and the service is so vital in the areas I am talking about because they are predominantly rural areas. Whether it is going up into places like Glencar or into the Bridia Valley or Cloon Lake, all of these people need service. Some of them are possibly getting a little bit older, are vulnerable and want to have their landline. Many of these people do not have a proper mobile service, and that is why it is so important.

It might be asked, when it is a company in the way it is, in that it is not semi-State, why a person would be raising it with the Taoiseach. I will tell him why. It is because these people, some of whom are pensioners, are all taxpayers, workers, farmers and people we are here to represent. Because of it being such a serious issue, that is why I wanted to bring it to the floor of the Dáil, why I want the Taoiseach to take it on board and why I want him to know about the problem that is there. I am asking him in a very humble way if he will contact Eir, let it know the issue was raised here today and let it know it is only common sense that when there is a service, maintenance people are needed to attend to the repairs and keep things right.

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