Eir bows to pressure and agrees to spruce up 'eyesore' exchange in Tipperary village

Eir has bowed to pressure from a Tidy Towns group and a TD and confirmed its arranging maintenance works to spruce up Drangan village’s dilapidated eir exchange property that has been labelled an 'eyesore'.

The telecommunications company informed Fine Gael Deputy Michael Murphy on March 20 it had no budget to carry out landscaping and general maintenance works at its exchange on Drangan’s Killenaule Road. The property is located opposite the village’s primary school and near its playground.

But eir did a u-turn after coming under fire from both Deputy Murphy and Drangan Tidy Towns Group and being contacted by The Nationalist about the rundown state of the property.

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The news has been welcomed by the Clonmel based TD and Drangan Tidy Towns Group Secretary Lucy McCormack, who had highlighted how the poor condition of the exchange was taking away from the appearance of the village with its grounds overgrown with vegetation, the entrance gate falling down, the external wall cracked and the exchange building requiring repainting and repairs.

Ms McCormack, who branded eir’s initial “no budget” response as “appalling”, said the group was grateful for Deputy Michael Murphy’s work on their behalf to put pressure on eir to carry out maintenance and landscaping works at the property.

She also thanked The Nationalist for its intervention to get a response from the company.

“We are delighted with this response and hope their commitment will be immediate and ongoing to enable the vital work to be completed,” she added.

Deputy Murphy, who fired off a strongly worded email describing eir’s original response as unacceptable and outlining his “deep dissatisfaction” with its neglect of the property, described the u-turn as a “positive and overdue step”.

“This outcome shows what can be achieved when a community speaks with one voice,” he said.
“Local residents and Tidy Towns volunteers have worked tirelessly to improve their village, and it was simply not acceptable that this site was being allowed to detract from those efforts.

“I engaged directly with Eir on this matter over a number of months and made it clear that the situation could not continue, particularly given the location beside a primary school in the centre of the village.

“I will be continuing to monitor the situation to ensure that the works are carried out promptly and to an appropriate standard. The community in Drangan deserves nothing less.”

Meanwhile, eir said the maintenance works it’s organising at the Drangan exchange will include landscaping of the site and painting, which will be dependent on weather.

“Our team is engaging with the relevant contractors to progress this work as soon as possible,” the company added.

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