Pensioner without mobile, tv or internet since October due to signal difficulties, Cork County Council meeting hears

An 81-year-old woman living in a rural part of the Cobh Municipal District has been living without a mobile phone, internet, or TV since October of last year due to difficulties with the availability of a mobile signal being experienced throughout the county, yesterday’s meeting of Cork County Council was told.

Fine Gael councillor Sinéad Sheppard was speaking on a motion brought by West Cork-based Independent councillor Finnbar Harrington, who asked that management representatives of mobile broadband companies would meet the council to discuss issues with coverage in his region. As the meeting went on however, it became clear that mobile customers in every part of the county were experiencing difficulties with their broadband coverage.

Ms Sheppard told the meeting that two of the seven people who had attended her clinic on Saturday had raised issues with mobile coverage. A second lady, 83 years of age and living in Cobh town centre, had said that she had been without phone, internet, and TV since early December due to poor signal.

“This is an ongoing issue which has got progressively worse in the past six months,” said Mr Harrington.

Fianna Fáil councillor in West Cork, Patrick Gerard Murphy, called on different service providers to share access to their masts, while Independent Ireland councillor Danny Collins said that the issue needed to be tackled.