A number of elected members expressed their dismay at a presentation provided to them by a representative from telecommunications company Eir - at their February meeting which took place this week.
Councillors hit out at the presentation delivered to them by Eir's director of regulatory and public affairs, Mr Kjeld Hartog, as they said it did not address the issues that the councillors had invited the company to address, mainly the customer-care they provided.
In his presentation, Hartog outlined the infrastructure and services provided by Eir across the country; however - it did not please the councillors, with Cllr Ger Deere saying he was "flabbergasted" as it did not address what the councillors had invited him to address. Cllr Deere went on to say that in 2019 it took him over 20 hours to deal with customer-care for one individual to get an issue resolved.
Other councillors went on to outline cases where people were left for days and weeks without broadband and telephone services - with Cllr John Caulfied saying that you would need to have a day off planned if you were trying to get in contact with Eir. Other issues included the cancellation of services and the length of time it took for the company to process it.
Cllr Blackie Gavin highlighted the issue of elderly people who have been left without service and the fear that it put in them, as they needed the telephone for personal alarm systems as well as it being their only means of communicating with people.
Cllr Jarlath Munnelly floated the idea of the council taking a vote of no confidence in the chief executive and board of the company, if they didn't hear back from them.
The issue surrounding the connection of certain parts of rural areas to high speed broadband and others being left out - despite only being a few meters away, was also raised by a number of councillors, with Cllr Christy Hyland suggesting it might be best if Mr Hartog went away, taking the councillors issues on board and coming back another day to address them.
In his response to the councillors, Mr Hartog said that since the company appeared before an Oireachtas Committee last year, there had been improvements in customer service, with the average waiting time now around five minutes on calls, but he did admit that times can be longer on days like a Monday.
He also agreed to provide the councillors with a mailbox number they could call, to log issues for their constituents with the company.
