Mayo school left without phone connection for almost four months following Storm Éowyn
Barnacogue National School in east Mayo have not been able to receive phone calls since the storm on January 24.
One-hundred-and-eleven days after the record-breaking storm, the school issued an appeal to help them 'connect back with the rest of the world'.
In a statement on Facebook, Barnacogue National School said: 'Our phone sounds as though it is ringing, but it isn't and we can't access any messages left.
'We have no phone line since Storm Éowyn and we are not having any luck having it reconnected. Our contract is with Vodafone Ireland , but they are blaming eir. It appears that small rural areas are not important to these companies.
'If an emergency arises in our school, we have to go out to the side of the road to make a call because we have no mobile phone coverage in our school either.'
Anyone seeking to contact the school is asked to email the school.
'If anyone anywhere can help us to connect back with the rest of the world, your assistance would be greatly appreciated,' the school stated.
A number of premises throughout Mayo remain without landline or broadband connections since Storm Éowyn.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray said the state should nationalise eir to ensure adequate provision of services in rural Ireland.
'If eir was owned by the government, that job would have been sorted a long time ago. But unfortunately, you are dealing with a private utility. You are literally at their mercy,' Mr Murray told the Irish Independent.
There are 23 students enrolled in Barnacogue National School which is situated near Ireland West Airport Knock.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
Over 17,000 compensation claims lodged in Mayo after Storm Éowyn
According to figures provided by the Department of Social Protection to TG4's 7LÁ, 17,303 claims were lodged from County Mayo. The county was second only to Galway, which recorded 30,592 claims. Other counties along the western seaboard, such as Donegal (1,696), Sligo (3,510), Roscommon (8,702) and Clare (3,826), accounted for a large amount of claims. Waterford had the lowest number of applications to the scheme of 26 counties with just 12 applications. The scheme opened following Storm Éowyn, which wreaked unprecedented damage when it struck the country on January 24. In total, 52,630 payments totalling €12,876,451 has been paid to support 50,967 households. The three-stage scheme covers the additional cost of feeding families in the immediate aftermath of the storm where people remained without power and/or water. Payments were also made to people to meet the cost of alternative accommodation. A significant amount of the money paid out under the scheme was in respect of accommodation costs. Currently there are 22,149 applicants whose claims have been decided and have not been awarded a payment under the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme. Applicants have 21 days to request a review of their decision.
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
Teen jailed over ‘hostile and aggressive' behaviour in hospital waiting area
It's not the first time this year that Leila Murray has been dealt with for an incident arising in a hospital setting A Belfast teenager who assaulted police when they were sent to hospital to help staff deal with her, was handed a two month jail sentence today. After Leila Murray entered guilty pleas to assaulting police and using disorderly behaviour at Antrim Area Hospital, a prosecuting lawyer told Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, how nursing staff had asked police to come and help them with an aggressive patient on 23 September last year. She outlined how Murray, who appeared at court by video link from prison, was 'hostile and aggressive towards staff, shouting and swearing in the waiting area where children and babies were present.' When officers arrived to try to assist, Murray lashed out and the court heard she kicked one officer in the chest and bit him on the ring finger, causing a 'minor laceration.' Highlighting that Murray 'knows the court takes a dim view' of such behaviour in hospitals, defence counsel Thomas McKeever said the homeless teenager had been there as a result of a psychotic episode and 'is ashamed of herself.' He revealed that sadly, it's not the first time this year that Murray has been dealt with for an incident arising in a hospital setting. In April at Belfast Magistrates Court, Murray was handed a six month sentence over an incident at the Mater Hospital in the north of the city. In that case the court heard how Murray head-butted a female nurse in the stomach and kicked her colleague several times before standing on a chair and lunging at two security guards who tried to negotiate with her. As staff restrained her she continued lashing out violently and shouted, 'I have HIV and hepatitis, I'm going to infect all of you' before proceeding to bite and scratch at one of the guards, breaking the skin, and spitting directly in his eyes. Continuing to shout about her infectious diseases, the teenager also bit a nurse and kicked two police officers as they removed her from the scene. Mr McKeever suggested that if the Antrim case had been dealt with at the same time, Murray may not have received any additional sentencing and urged District Judge Nigel Broderick not to interfere with her release date. Describing it as a 'nasty assault,' the judge imposed a two month prison sentence to be served concurrently. Leila Murray News in 90 Seconds - 3rd June 2025
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- Irish Times
Anthony has paid Eir almost €3,000 more than he had to. Is he due a refund?
'I have been an Eir customer since 2015 and have had no issues until now,' begins a mail from Anthony. His bills are what he has an issue with now. 'I noticed my monthly bill for May is €104.25. It is always paid by direct debit so I never really paid attention to it but today I did, and noticed on the Eir website that I am paying almost 75 per cent more than the amount advertised,' he says. To support this claim, he sent us pictures of Eir prices ranging from around €35 to €50 a month. READ MORE 'When I queried this today, I was told that Eir sent out notifications included in the monthly bills informing me that as my contract had ended I was now staying on the highest rate possible, which is what I am on now and have been since Dec 2018.' He says the company also sent an email 'saying I was on the best plan available'. He pushed back on this claim and said neither the Eir staff member nor he 'could find any notice to me of an increase in charges notification. I was then told Eir attempted to contact me and advise me of the high charges via a phone call but it appears the phone call got dropped due to a line issue and they never got the chance to advise me.' Anthony says that over the past six and a half years he has paid close to €3,000 more than he needed to. 'Eir maintain they advise customers via their bills yet they cannot provide any evidence of this, and that they tried to call me to discuss same, yet there was a problem with the Eir phone line so they could not advise me,' he states. 'They could have been calling me about anything, despite a note logged to the call by them, so I am to suck it up (my words). The agent was very polite but unable to do anything on my behalf.' He says he is not expecting Pricewatch to be able to 'do anything for me' but he wanted to share his experience anyway. He also points out that he has now changed contract to the 1GB 24 month and will soon start to see savings 'but it's been disappointing, to say the least'. We know Anthony wasn't expecting us to do much for him but we did contact Eir and received a statement back. 'Eir confirms that the customer's contract expired in 2019, after which the account transitioned to a standard out-of-contract rate,' the company states. 'Since then, multiple communications were sent – via email, billing notifications and outbound calls – outlining available contract options, price changes and upgrade opportunities, in accordance with regulatory requirements and Eir's proactive customer communications approach. 'We understand that navigating these changes can be challenging, and we appreciate the customer's recent decision to move to a new plan that offers better value. As the previous charges were based on Eir's standard out-of-contract rates and were communicated through the appropriate channels, no retrospective refund is applicable. [ Life admin has become more irksome as many utility firms treat customers with contempt Opens in new window ] 'Eir remains committed to transparent and proactive communication and encourages all customers to regularly review their contract status or reach out to us directly to ensure they are on the most suitable plan for their needs.' We do understand Anthony's frustration and he is probably right to say he has paid close to three grand more than he needed to for his service but it does serve as a reminder that people need to keep on top of their household bills. Eir is by no means the only company that switches people on to what they might like to call 'standard rates' when an initial contract period ends and it is not uncommon for those standard rates to represent bad value for money. And that is why we all have to be on our guard.
