Elderly in Longford 'at risk' due to lack of panic buttons

Lives are being put at risk due to the "ongoing failure to restore telephone lines and fibre broadband" affected several weeks after Storm Éowyn, according to a councillor.

Fine Gael's Padraig McNamara submitted a motion to Longford County Council and requested they write to Communications Minister Patrick O'Donovan.

He stated the disruption has left many vulnerable and elderly people without vital means of communication and personal safety alarms, also known as panic buttons used by older people to summon help in emergency situations.

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Cllr McNamara said the devices were inoperable due to damaged telephone lines and he encounters it daily in his line of work.

"The situation is putting lives at risk as most people are unable to contact family members and emergency services and it is just to ensure of their well-being.”

Cllr McNamara stated elderly people who have the panic button system should be able to benefit from the peace of mind and security.

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"It's simply not good enough," he said. "I believe there are in the region of 1,500 lines still out and it is important that these are dealt with straight away.”

Cllr Gerry Hagan commended Cllr McNamara on a 'great' notice of motion.

"It beggars belief in this day and age that it takes such an age to get broadband and telephone lines up and running again.

"It is affecting businesses and the most vulnerable in our society and to try to get through to Eir, you'd get through to Trump quicker these days," he added.

Cllr Paul Ross referred to a similar motion being brought forward during the March monthly meeting of the local authority and he said they were 'no further along'.

""It's a joke. It's the same as last month, power, water and broadband are the three things you can't live without.
"The more technology involved the more people need it," he added.

Cllr Ross said only for Christine Collins, the Broadband and Digital officer for Longford County Council, he would have no point of contact with Eir.

"I will commend her for what she is doing but it is a disgrace, it is almost three months on now since Storm Éowyn."

Cllr Martin Skelly also supported the motion and the Newtowncashel man described his part of the county as being in a 'terrible state with wires 'hanging all over the place'.

"Half of the poles have not been replaced and there are broken poles just hanging out on the road.

"It is just a catastrophic, chaotic situation, you are nearly afraid that they are going to come down on you."

Cllr Skelly said there appears to be 'no plan' and he described an incident on Tuesday, April 8 near his home when a cattle lorry became entangled in wires and it was stuck on the road with animals inside for three hours.

Cllr Martin Monaghan also supported the motion.

"The company themselves have no interest in dealing with us.
"We have elderly people abandoned, their outlet is the phone, they are on their own in rural areas and it beggars belief that a national company with the resources they have and the funding they have cannot [resolve this]."

An Eir spokeswoman said a key cause of disruption was trees on third-party land falling onto the network infrastructure.

“Storm Éowyn caused unprecedented damage to Ireland’s telecommunications network, with over 500 individual faults resolved and 180 poles replaced across County Longford.

“While 99% of affected customers nationally have had service restored, a small number of complex, storm-related faults remain in Longford and require extensive on-site repairs, which are expected to be completed soon.

"Delays in some areas resulted from the fact that private companies like eir do not have authority to manage or remove trees on private property.

"Although eir requested assistance from local authorities for tree removal at approximately 200 sites nationwide, this support was not secured.

"Where local assistance was unavailable, eir sourced specialist crews from outside the jurisdiction to carry out the necessary work."

"Interim mobile solutions have been provided where appropriate, and vulnerable customers are being prioritised once identified.

"As the telecommunications network does not have automatic fault detection, all service issues must be reported directly to eir to be logged and addressed," the spokeswoman concluded.