Calls for damaged Eir poles in Wexford to be replaced ‘within 48 hours’— ‘it's a communications company which doesn’t communicate’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Having only been able to contact Eir through its X account, a Wexford councillor has called on the Communications Minister to instruct the broadband provider to repair broken telephone poles within 48 hours of them breaking.

Fearful of one of the errant poles tangling with tractors carrying bales of hay, Fianna Fáil councillor Barbara Anne Murphy said that, as a telecommunications company, Eir needed to work on how it communicated with members of the public.

“It’s been brought to my attention by former employees of Eir and Eircom that when telephone poles get damaged they’re not being mended or replaced in a timely manner,” she said at the June meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC). “The danger is that if the line drops, particularly at this time of year when you have tractors with bales on the back, it can get dragged out and the pole will be uprooted.”

Referencing a pole in Edermine which she said was “held together with a fertiliser bag”, Cllr Murphy said the lack of a response when contacting Eir only exacerbated the issue.

“Eir doesn’t have any respect for anybody or any group,” she said. “It’s a communications company which doesn’t communicate. The only way to get a response from them is to contact them on X, they’re appalling.”

Cllr Murphy and her party colleague Cllr Donal Kenny submitted a motion calling on Eir to clarify its “maintenance responsibility regarding public infrastructure includes all the telegraph poles and lines in the country” and asking Minister O’Donovan to convene a meeting to discuss the regulation of this area of critical communications infrastructure with Eir and get a commitment that “broken telegraph poles will be replaced within 48 hours.”

In response, a spokesperson for Eir issued the following statement: “We manage an active monitoring and repair programme for approximately 1.6 million poles nationwide. Response times range from 24 hours in emergency situations to up to 13 weeks, depending on health and safety risk, customer impact and access.

“In this case, the pole (in Edermine) was not deemed high risk and was not serving customers. During this same period, Eir completed approximately 100 other pole repairs in Wexford, most within eight weeks of being reported. This issue has now been resolved.”