Category Archives: Press Releases

No good news on broadband in latest announcement for Rural Ireland -Feeley

‘The announcement of a deal between Eir and the Government is of little benefit to most people in Rural Ireland and means that the National Broadband Scheme is now likely not to be in place until 2021 at the earliest,’ according to Fianna Fáil Councillor, John Paul Feeley ‘Last July, to great fanfare, the National Broadband Scheme was again launched by Minister Naughten extending it to cover a further 170,000 households. Now the Minister has agreed to leave 300,000 households to the mercy of Eir whilst at the same time adding 85,000 households to the National Broadband Scheme.’ ‘Eir have had years to provide services in these areas but have failed abysmally. As we are all aware, Eircom has gone through a lot of changes in recent years, all focused on satisfying shareholders of the now Jersey based company, none of the changes have been about investing in customer services. Having seen the plans announced by Eir, whilst welcome they are of little benefit to the vast majority of people in Rural Ireland.’ ‘It is important to realise that in the context of broadband, Rural Ireland means everything but the most urban areas.’ ‘The National Broadband Scheme is now seriously in jeopardy. It appears that the Government have caved to the implicit threat of legal action from them if these households remained in the NBS, now it looks entirely possible that the other companies may now either withdraw from the bidding process. Either way this all delays the provision of an essential piece of infrastructure for rural communities.’ ‘I fear that like the last time a Fine Gael led Government allocated a communications licence which ended in the Moriarty Tribunal, the people of Ireland will end up paying the bill for a major error on the part of Government and rural communities, already bereft of basic services will suffer most.’
ENDS
Contact: John Paul Feeley (087) 6989304

Blacklion Post Office closes temporarily Government must act to safe Post Office Network

Cavan County Councillor, John Paul Feeley has called for urgent government action to save the Post Office Network.
‘Last Thursday, Blacklion Post Office closed temporarily and indefinitely. Our Postmistress, Dympna Stewert served the community exceptionally well over the past number of years, having worked to restore a service previously disrupted by criminal damage to the previous premises. Her work is greatly appreciated the entire community. She notified An Post well in advance of her intentions and indeed served an additional six weeks beyond her notice period. However, this service is now gone and we have no indication as to when it will return, if ever. Last Thursday was a bad day for Blacklion and one that will be replicated in many rural communities.’
‘What has happened in Blacklion is all the more concerning given that last week it was reported that Minister of State for Rural Affairs, Michael Ring, TD, at a Cabinet Meeting passed the matter back to the Minister for Communications, Denis Naughten TD so as not to have to make any decision about the future of An Post.’
‘The Kerr Report is there, there is a review completed internally within An Post, Minster Ring has done another report. At this stage there are far too many reports . It is now long past time for action to make our post office network viable and for action from Government. The one thing that is clear is that communities across Ireland, like Blacklion are suffering as the departments of Minister Humphreys and Naughten collectively fail to act.’

ENDS