The Mayo News

WESTPORT-BASED TD, Michael Ring (pictured) has criticised the costs utility companies, such as Eircom and the ESB, charge people to move poles on their land, and has called on them to remove poles for free. Call for end to pole moving charge


Anton McNulty

WESTPORT-based TD, Michael Ring (pictured) has criticised the costs utility companies, such as Eircom and the ESB, charge people to move poles on their land, and has called on them to remove poles for free.
Landowners and local authorities are being charged between €5,000 and €20,000 by companies – who own the poles – to move them to another location. Many of the poles are located near areas where landowners have applied for planning permission for homes and the charge to move them adds considerably to the cost of building a house.
Deputy Ring said the charges for the relocation of many poles was unsustainable and reminded companies that these poles were put in place with the co-operation of the local authorities and landowners with ‘absolutely no compensation paid’. He added that the charges were a deterrent to the development of necessary projects.
“The current position where local authorities and private landowners must pay utility companies such as the ESB and Eircom to move poles for safety reasons is no longer sustainable and these companies should now move poles free of charge. As new developments have taken place in towns and in the countryside, poles that in the past were in a safe place are now a danger both to pedestrians and drivers. Where road realignment is being carried out, local authorities have no choice but to sometimes move these poles. Given the budget cuts faced by many councils around the country, the cost of moving these poles can be a deterrent to carrying out some necessary projects,” he said.
Deputy Ring claimed that some poles had become a safety hazard and unless they were moved there was the potential for serious accidents occurring. He added that the companies were only using these charges to make very substantial profits.

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