Thousands of homes and businesses left without broadband in mid-Louth

Thousands of customers found themselves without internet or broadband across a sizeable part of mid-Louth, including Castlebellingham, Annagassan, Dromin, Mooretown and surrounding areas, for almost a week due to a major fault.

Sinn Féin Councillor Pearse McGeough said: “The internet went down on Sunday 15th June for some people and then others began reporting lack of service in the days following.

“Getting information on what was happening proved very difficult and that is something that needs to be addressed with large service providers, in this case it was Eir.

“Our lives now are dependent on decent broadband and internet especially businesses and those who work from home.

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"For example, card machines wouldn’t work causing mayhem in shops and hospitality establishments making a farce of attempts for a ‘cashless society’; televisions are digital now and reliant on decent broadband to stream programmes; we are reliant on internet for communication in almost everything we do.

"We had a school here that was unable to make or receive phone calls and another young man who had accounting exams were due to start on Monday (June 23rd) was very concerned because there was no information coming from Eir that the service would be restored.”

Cllr McGeough continued: “Faults can happen and in fairness Eir was in the area working on it within a very short time but thousands of their customers were left in the dark as to what the problem was and more importantly, when it would be fixed.

"That lack of certainty can cause disruption in people’s lives and their businesses; that lack of communication can cause frustration in customers.

“It was hard to get any information and Eir had nothing on its website or social media accounts acknowledging there was a fault or that it was being addressed.

"The last item on their X and Facbook accounts was a slogan saying “connection is everything” and their @Eircare page hadn’t been updated since Christmas. Eir and big companies like this need to do better when it comes to communicating with their customer base.

“The fault was caused by a third party and Eir required a licence to dig up the road where the fibre break was located.

“I am hearing that service were restored to most customers on Friday, which will be a huge relief to all those affected but a bit of communication would have eased a lot of the frustration.”

A spokesperson for Open Eir, which operates as a subsidiary of the Eir group, in a statement on last Friday said: “Accidental damage to telecommunications infrastructure by a third party on Monday caused a broadband outage affecting approximately 2,000 homes and businesses.

“The issue was reported to open eir on Tuesday, and a repair crew was immediately dispatched.

“Repairs were completed yesterday, and all services have since been restored. If any customer is still experiencing service issues, they should contact their telecommunications provider.”