A rural community in east Clare are appealing for urgent works to be carried out to restore phone and internet connectivity in the area.
The area of Killuran, between Bodyke and Broadford, has been without phone or internet coverage since Storm Éowyn hit the country last month.
Martin McMahon is a local farmer in the area.
"Since Storm Éowyn we have no landlines, mobiles or internet working in this area for the past five weeks, it's terrible," he said.
"We have elderly residents living on their own here and who have no way of contacting anyone in an emergency.
"We need the connectivity restored as a matter of urgency".
Miriam Nic Gabhann is a school principal living in the community.
She said the lack of phone connectivity was not good enough.
"I'm a school principal and if a teacher is sick, they cannot contact me at home in the evening or in the morning as neither the landline or the mobile phones are working.
"We were without electricity power here for a week but that was restored, thankfully. We are now waiting over a month for the phone network and the internet services to be restored - it’s not good enough".
The delay in restoring connectivity is being blamed on trees falling on power and phone lines in the area during the storm. East Clare is a heavily forested area.
The issue was raised in the Dáil this week by Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Cooney, who said he had personally seen "lengths of power lines brought down by windblown trees"
Additional measures are needed to protect power lines in forested areas, he said..
"The setback distance for trees in forested areas from powerlines needs to be increased. Also, a separate felling licence system needs to be introduced to facilitate the urgent management of trees in the setback corridors," Mr Cooney added.
In response, Minister of State with responsibly for Forestry Michael Healy Rae TD said: "The existing legislation and the existing corridors have failed - it’s quiet simply not good enough".
He said that discussions are under way in the Department to address the issues and added that a change in legislation may be needed.
Mr Healy Rae said discussions are currently under way involving stakeholders and the ESB on this matter.
Meanwhile, efforts are continuing in Killuran to reconnect the community with the telecommunications and internet network.
