End of the line for the rural phonebox

Eircom plans to remove 52 phoneboxes Westmeath as part of a nationwide cull of nearly half of the company"s public payphones, the Westmeath Examiner has learned.19 of these phones are tabled for removal from the greater Mullingar area, with another seventeen expected to get the axe in Athlone.Four will be removed from the streets of Moate, while two have been earmarked for removal in Castlepollard, Kinnegad, Killucan, Delvin, Glasson and Kilbeggan.'eircom continuously monitors payphones for levels of customer usage and in the last 5 years there has been a decline in call volumes from payphones of more than 80 per cent,' an eircom spokesperson said this week. 'Beginning in April, eircom intends to remove 2,151 payphones nationwide because there has been very low, and in some cases no customer usage over a sustained period.'Prior to the removal of any payphone, eircom will commence a public consultation process. Removal notification notices will be placed on all targeted payphones for a minimum of six weeks. Additionally letters will be issued to all relevant Local Authorities informing them of the rationalisation programme in their area.Local residents and relevant authorities in Westmeath will be given an opportunity to submit their views in writing to eircom before March 16. All views received will be taken into account before a final decision is made on the removal of any payphone.The phoneboxes tabled for removal in the Mullingar area are: Pearse Street, Market Square, Dominick Street (two), Springfield, Newtown Lawns, Ballinderry, Green Bridge, and one each in outer areas such as Rathowen, Lismacaffrey, Rochfortbridge, Milltownpass, Tyrrellspass, Moyvore, Ballymore, Multyfarnham, Ballynacargy, Clonard and Collinstown.Two will be removed in Kinnegad (one on Main Street), Killucan (one at Rathwire), Kilbeggan (both on Main Street), Glasson (one at Killinure), Delvin (one on Main Street) and Castlepollard (on the Square and the Coole Road), with four set to go in Moate (two on Main Street, one at the Turnpike and one at Horseleap).A further seventeen are set for the axe in the Athlone area: two each at Custume Place, Main Street, Shannonbridge, Church Street and Gallow"s Hill, Baylough; as well as one each at Garrycastle, Ballykeeran, Lissywollen, Walderstown, Curraghboy and Kiltoom.This week, Fianna Fáil"s Cllr. Paddy Hill expressed concern about the effects which the removal of phoneboxes would have on rural areas of Westmeath.'I haven"t seen the lists for Meath, Longford or Cavan yet, so there"s a chance that phoneboxes in the outlying border areas of Westmeath could be affected,' Cllr. Hill said.'I would be opposed to the removal of these phoneboxes. There"s still a number of people who used them in rural areas, strange as it may seem; take a rural village like Lismacaffrey for instance.'The argument is that everybody has mobile phones now, but I have poor coverage here in Finea where I"m talking to you myself, and that"s a problem in quite a bit of the Coole area. You have places like Fore and Collinstown, where phone coverage isn"t good at all,' Cllr. Hill concluded.