Issuing bills to customers without phone and internet ‘not acceptable’, says Mayo TD

MAYO TD Rose Conway-Walsh has said it is ‘just not acceptable’ for telecommunications companies to issue bills to people who are not receiving a service. 

Last week, Eir came under fire for issuing bills to customers who are still without phone and internet access following Storm Éowyn. This included a 92-year-old man who had no phone or broadband for six weeks after the record-breaking storm, which struck the country on January 24. 

Deputy Conway-Walsh has written to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to query the rights implications of companies charging customers who have been without service since Storm Éowyn.

The Erris-based TD said that many households throughout Mayo were still without phone and internet services seven weeks after the storm. 

“People have been left in phone queues for hours trying to notify the telecoms companies of faults and to get an update on reconnection,” Deputy Conway-Walsh stated. 

“Businesses have also been affected, such as rural post offices, and their operations have been severely restricted. Self-employed people and people working remotely have been greatly impeded.

“In some cases, emergency 5G internet connection has been provided to individuals and portions of their bills have been waived, but for others this hasn’t happened and people have been charged for the full amount of their bill despite receiving no service.”

The Sinn Féin TD demanded that the Eir, telecom providers, government departments, ComReg and the CCPC, be urgently brought before the Oireachtas.

No Oireachtas committees are currently sitting due to the impasse over speaking rights in the Dáil 

“The people of Mayo are paying the price for the Fianna Fáil decision to privatise our main telecommunications network. Their privatisation policies continue to have devastating effects for rural Ireland,” concluded Deputy Conway-Walsh. 

Her party colleague, Cllr Gerry Murray, led calls for Eir to be privatised at the March meeting of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District. 

Eir has said it remains ‘fully committed’ to restoring services for their customers as quickly as possible. The company said customers can call 1901 for an adjustment of their bills covering the period of non-service. 

The company, formerly known as Eircom, are prioritising the reconnection of elderly and vulnerable customers.

In a statement to The Mayo News, the company said ‘complex challenges’ and the need to hire specialists to remove fallen roadside trees had led to delays in restoring connections. 

In the past month, Eir has repaired over 1,000 faults in Mayo, which it described as ‘one of the hardest hit’ counties by Storm Éowyn.