AS THE villages dotted around the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains shimmered in the sun yesterday, their inhabitants simmered with indignation in front of blank, or almost blank, television screens.
"It's a disgrace," declared a woman cleaning the windows of a pub in tiny Rathgormack. "The bossman here was trying to get hold of the TDs last night and couldn't get any of them. I don't know what's going to happen."
At 10.30 a.m. yesterday Mr Dermot Kirwan, operator of the South Eastern Community Deflector Association, drove to the scenic Mahon Falls area and cut off the power in a cable leading to the hills.
Some 1,800 feet above on the mountainside, the receiver and retransmitter ceased to function, and that was the end, for the present at least, of multichannel TV for more than 3,000 homes.
The deflector association has deep roots in the local community. It has supplied the Co Waterford village of Kilmacthomas, for instance, with cross channel programmes for more than 20 years.
Ms Marion Foley, proprietor of a local hairdressing salon, voiced the annoyance of her customers. "All we know is the English channels have died on us. People are absolutely disgusted," she said.
A farmer, Billy Kirwan, now retired, was the inspiration behind the start of the deflector service so many years ago. When there was a big match on in Britain, he would drive with his sons, Dermot and Ray, up into the hills with a battery powered TV set and homemade portable aerial to watch.
"I discovered the signal was perfect at over 1,000 feet. Then the problem was to get it down to the house," he recalls. Through ingenuity and persistence, that problem was resolved so successfully that the idea of a community service soon became realistic.
The High Court Order restraining the service is particularly resented because, locals allege, many people in isolated areas were told by the licensed relay companies that they could not be supplied with a service.
Mr Jack Kelly, chairman of the association and a possible election candidate if the organisation decides to enter the political fray, relates the long and frustrating history of the group's attempts to secure a licence and become "legitimate".
"We don't want an exclusive licence. All we want is to co exist," he said.