Results 10,501-10,520 of 26,021 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Why?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Even, Ms Lennon, if a person is waiting 40 minutes to be heard? Many of them are elderly people. On the fixed-line business, many of them are reliant on having the fixed-line operating for their alarm systems. I have had various people on to me-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: -----and one lady, a restaurateur, had her fixed-line go down last March. It is still not repaired. She continued to be billed and eventually she had to stop the standing orders. We have a litany of them so the question is how can you then say that Eir customers have not been left out in the cold?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: I am sorry Ms Lennon-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: -----if one has a bigger business-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: I am sorry, Ms Lennon. The point I take exception to is you using the excuse that Eir is bigger than everyone else. Eir has a large number of customers, it has the fixed-line business and it owns the fibre network and whatever. By definition, therefore, Eir is going to get more complaints as it is a bigger business.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Also, Sky and others are paying Eir for the use of the its network
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: That is, therefore, an unacceptable excuse. I would go so far as to say it does not stand up to scrutiny; it is a lame excuse.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Can I finish-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Can I say something? I have two more points. The first is that I got the impression that you believe staff are an issue, is that right? Ultimately the buck stops with-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Second, I have two quick questions. First, I rang this morning and I checked on times. One was below ten minutes but the other was 29 minutes. There are still many late calls-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: You accept that. Second, what is Eir doing to remedy that? When will it be done and how is it doing it? Moving to broadband, the gap intervention areas are, as you are well familiar, areas where Eir provided fibre broadband and then discontinued. We had representatives of National Broadband Ireland, NBI, before us this time last week. They are agreeable to working with Eir to see if it...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: Why did Eir not have contingency plans in place, with Covid coming? The company must have known it was going to be difficult.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: I will let my colleagues follow up on that. Will Ms Lennon deal with the broadband and the intervention areas? Will Eir interact with National Broadband Ireland?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: If NBI were to approach Eir and ask to come to an arrangement to link into its network 100 yd up the road, would Eir say no?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: I regard that as unacceptable but I will let my colleagues follow up on it. I call Senator Dooley.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: How many of the staff have tech skills?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: People in Sligo have been in contact with a public representative, namely, me as Chairman of this committee, and they have stated that the ADTRAN call centre has been in Sligo for many years, as has Avantcard in Carrick-on-Shannon. Eir was offered training facilities in the local IDA and the Sligo Chamber of Commerce but it was not taken up. I ask Ms Lennon to come back to this at a later point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: That is neither the point nor the question. All the customers whom Eir has discommoded, including the pensioners------
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)
Kieran O'Donnell: In many cases, the difficulties have still not been sorted. I told Ms Lennon about a restauranteur who has been waiting nine months but whose business's line is still not up and running. Deputy O'Rourke's question is fair. What will Eir do by way of a financial gesture of goodwill for these people?