Latest news with #Eircode
Irish Independent
16 hours ago
- General
- Irish Independent
Calls for Eir to remove abandoned phone wires in Galway
Today at 08:55 Non-functioning phone wires appear to be abandoned in countryside areas after Storm Eowyn and Galway County councillor Sean Broderick calls them 'dangerous and disgraceful'. The storm caused massive wind damage throughout county Galway including phone wires and power lines. Cllr. Broderick has called on telecommunications company Eir to clean up abandoned phone wires throughout rural areas particularly Athenry and Monivea. Restoration efforts are still under way in those areas after the storm and recently saw increased funds to assist in those efforts the Irish Independent reported. Cllr Broderick claims that when Eir contractors came to replace the lines, they failed to remove the old wires and instead 'dropped them in ditches, on roadsides, and in people's gardens.' 'In some cases, wires have been left hanging dangerously low across farm gateways, making it difficult or even impossible for tractors and machinery to access fields. It's disgraceful and it's unsafe.' Cllr Broderick said. Immediate action was requested by the councillor to resolve the concern prior to hedge-cutting season as 'contractors will be reluctant to go near these hanging wires'. 'The wires are no longer in use — that much is clear — but it is not acceptable to leave them littering the countryside like discarded rubbish. I am calling on Eir, ComReg, and the Department of Environment to intervene and ensure this mess is cleaned up without delay.' Contacted by the Irish Independent, Eir responded that they have no record of Cllr Broderick's enquiry on their general database or in the private line to local councillors. Without an Eircode that pertains to property affected by the abandoned phone lines, locating any complaints, or carrying out services, is difficult. Eir did explain that certain challenges can be faced if old phone lines are enclosed around over-grown shrubs, as that is not the responsibility of the company, or if the lines are on private property where permission would nee to be sought to remove the broadband wires. Cllr Broderick said: 'Galway's countryside is not a dumping ground. These communities deserve better than this careless treatment. Someone must take responsibility — and they must take it now.' At the time Cllr Broderick says he made the complaint to Eir, damage from the storm was at an all-time high and the enquiry was far more general to the Athenry-Oranmore area than to specific locations. Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
Irish Independent
20 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
National Broadband Scheme extends to West Sligo
15,000 premises in Co Sligo are included in the State's Intervention Area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms, and schools. As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, County Sligo will receive €59m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan. There are 2,761 Sligo premises in the Dromore West deployment area that can join the NBI network. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living nearby to visit and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect. Works have already been completed in other parts of Sligo, including the rural surrounds of Tubbercurry and Sligo town. There is a total of 11,010 premises that can now pre-order or order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county with 2,715 connections made so far. Network build works are also continuing across Sligo with works in progress for almost 3,500 premises in the Riverstown deployment area, due to be connected by the end of next year. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at is the easiest way to get the most up-to-date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order. TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: 'We are delighted to announce that almost 2,800 Sligo premises in the Dromore West deployment area can now order high-speed broadband services through the NBI network™. NBI has now passed over 396,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband with over 138,000 now connected. The average take-up rate of 35% is well ahead of projections and international comparisons and surpasses 50% in areas of the country where the network has been live for 18 months. As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, rather it enables services from a range of broadband providers or Retail Service Providers (RSPs). As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all RSPs operating in the Intervention Area. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Sligo include Coolaney Community Centre and Eastern Harps GAA Club. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.
Irish Independent
21 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Wexford gardaí investigating string of thefts from work vans
Gardaí are currently investigating thefts from three vans which occurred overnight between Sunday, July 28 and Monday, July 29. Two of the incidents occurred at Slaney View Park in Enniscorthy while a third van was targeted at Clonattin Gorey. A garda representative has confirmed that all three vans were work vehicles and various equipment and personal items were stolen on the night in question. "There have been some incidents throughout Wexford over the past few months involving thefts from work vehicles, and we're urging owners—particularly tradespeople—to take extra precautions. Simple security measures can make a significant difference in deterring crime,' they said. The offered a number of ways for tradespeople to protect their vehicle when it is not in use. "Firstly, avoid leaving tools in vans overnight whenever possible. Park in a secure location, and install a high-quality vehicle alarm system—make sure its presence is clearly visible. If secure parking isn't available, use well-lit areas monitored by CCTV or places visible from your home. If parking close to your residence, consider extending your home's alarm system to the van. We also advise installing an internal vault system inside the van for storing tools securely, with signage indicating this protection," they advised. 'It's vital to photograph and record tool serial numbers, and mark items with a name or Eircode. Keep your van locked—even while working on site and avoid leaving tools in publicly accessible areas,' they added. They noted that while investing in security may be initially quite costly, the loss of equipment, downtime, and impact on customers can be far more severe. "Prevention is key, let's work together to keep Wexford safe,' they said. Gardaí are also appealing to anyone who may have witnessed suspicious activity, or who may have CCTV, dashcam, or doorbell footage from these areas to please come forward.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Climate
- Irish Independent
Uisce Éireann working to restore water supply after major outage in Galway
The outage is affecting customers in Athenry North, East and West, Moorpark, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Slievefinn, Castlelambert, Carnmore West, Cashla and Castleleen Cartymore. Customers in these areas may be affected by outages or reduced pressure in their supply this morning. The outage is also impacting on group water schemes in Carnmore, Cashla, Tyrone and Moorpark. Uisce Éireann's Ger Greally has assured affected customers that every effort is being made to restore normal supply as soon as possible. 'We understand the inconvenience of an unplanned outage and we thank customers for their support while our works continue,' he said. The company said that normally it takes two to three hours following repairs for supply to be restored to all affected by an unplanned outage, however in this instance, it may take longer for normal supply to be restored to customers as the system recharges. For more information, customers are advised to contact Uisce Éireann's 24/7 customer care team on 1800 278 278. Customers can also oblige of a free text service that provides real-time updates on local issues. Users can sign up by entering their Eircode and mobile number on the text alerts page of
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Schools ‘compelled to close' for elections as Wexford councillors suggest novel method to clean up register
On a county basis, Wexford is in a period of flux as it adjusts to the creation of two new electoral divisions (Rosslare and Kilmuckridge) and a new Dáil constituency (Wicklow-Wexford). With that in mind county secretary Michael Drea presented a draft of the new polling scheme for Wexford which, despite its title, was utilised in last year's local and general elections. While the GKMD councillors declared themselves happy with the boundaries of their respective divisions, there were concerns regarding the premises used on polling days. 'Does the council have any input on where the polling station is?' asked Cllr Anthony Donohue. 'In this day and age we shouldn't be closing schools for an election. Can we find alternatives to the schools? In Monaseed there's a hall straight across the road from the school. In Craanford there's two halls.' He had the support of Cllr Mary Farrell. 'Every time there is an election I'm always asked why are the schools closing,' she said. 'What are the options for different venues? Parents need to know; if a school is closed they have to find childcare or take a day off work. That's not acceptable.' According to Mr Drea, part of the reason why the county registrars use schools as polling stations is because they have the 'legal power to compel a school to close and make it available for polling day'. In addition, he said parish halls and community centres often had competing interests when it came to hiring out the premises. 'We would have been one or two bad experiences, anecdotally anyway, where halls were being used (for polling) and then there may have been a death in the area; a request was made to use the hall for refreshments, and that ended up taking priority.' On the topic of the register and removing some of those 500,000 names from it, senior staff officer Adrienne Larkin said the council took every precaution before doing so. 'The current practise requires us to have three documented attempts to contact someone before they are removed,' she said. 'If a death is registered with the HSE or the Department of Social Protection we have access to that information and we will verify it before removing someone. 'But there's always a danger of removing the wrong person, there could be someone with the same name living in the same town; previously there was a tendency to remove people without checking but now we make efforts to contact someone before removing them.' Explaining that three undelivered polling cards counted as documented attempts to contact someone, Ms Larkin said that a new system, requiring a PPSN number and an Eircode, would eventually help to eradicate the current issues. 'The only way to ensure the register is accurate is to make PPSNs mandatory,' agreed Mr Drea. 'You could very easily check for duplicates then. At the moment, it's incredibly difficult to keep track of everyone – if someone went to college in Dublin, worked in Galway, and then came back to Wexford, they could be registered in all three counties. "But I would take erring on the side of caution and having too many people on it than people not being able to vote because they're not on it.' Given the technology available, Cllr Joe Sullivan believed setting up a new system would not pose any problems for the government. 'It would appear simple to do it, once a person hits 18 that information could be fed across to the department. And if they moved around the country they could just update their location accordingly,' he mused. 'I have no doubt we could do it,' replied Mr Drea. 'If you can trace a cow from the time it was born then you can do it with a human.' 'You'd to have put a tag on their ear though,' remarked Cllr Paddy Kavanagh. .
