Everything being done to restore power supplies to Irish homes, say ministers
Minister Dara Calleary said he understood people’s ‘frustration’ and that authorities were ‘working as hard as possible’.
Ministers have insisted that every effort is being made to restore power supplies that were cut during Storm Eowyn, amid concerns some communities could be left in the dark until next week.
Homes and infrastructure across Ireland were damaged during the nationwide red-level weather event, which brought record-breaking wind speeds and cut power to more than a million customers on the island of Ireland.
A young man was killed after a tree fell on his car in Co Donegal during the storm.
Technicians from England and France were helping restore power to homes and businesses as around 204,000 remained cut off in Ireland and 50,000 in Northern Ireland.
Around 109,000 were without water and 94,000 homes and businesses were without broadband as of Sunday.
Irish deputy premier and foreign affairs minister Simon Harris said that “everything that can be done is being done” to restore supplies.
“I’m very conscious that there is many people in Ireland still without electricity supply and without water, and I want to assure people that everything that can be done is being done to restore people to supply as quickly as possible,” he said at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
“I really want to express my gratitude to the incredible crews, who are doing so much work right across the country. We’ve gone from around over three-quarters-of-a-million people not having access to electricity to over 200,000 people now.
“But I am conscious as this goes on, the longer it goes on, the more hardship that imposes on people, and that’s why we’re carrying out a number of activities.”
He said the Air Corps had been assisting the ESB energy company and the Civil Defence had been carrying out a number of activities particularly in the north and northwest of the country.
Minister for Social Protection and Rural, Community Development Dara Calleary said he understood people’s “frustration” that their utility services were not yet restored, but he said authorities were “working as hard as possible”.
He said “we will learn lessons” from the damage done by the storm but that there was a “complexity” to some repairs.
“We’re going to reflect on this, reflect on the severity of both this storm and the previous storm, and make changes as is necessary,” he told RTE’s Morning Ireland programme.
“But our immediate response since Friday and right through today and tomorrow, will be getting responses up, getting repairs done, getting the humanitarian hubs up.”
He said emergency response hubs had opened in counties Cavan and Laois in order to improve communications with people left in the dark by outages, and further hubs would be opened.
He said that local authorities were being tasked with visiting vulnerable people and the elderly on Monday and that he would visit some of the worst-hit areas in Co Galway this week.
He said he was also working to get generators for the agricultural community.
Meanwhile, opposition politicians have called for the Dail to return before Wednesday February 5 to deal with the political and policy consequences of the storm.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she has written to Taoiseach Micheal Martin urging him to reconvene the Dail due to the “unprecedented emergency”.
“I call on you to demonstrate decisive leadership in this moment of crisis by recalling the Dáil as a matter of urgency,” she wrote.
“Not to do so would be political negligence. It is essential that the Government engage directly with elected representatives to address these acute concerns and to put in place the measures necessary to assist those in need.
“Now is the time for action. The people affected by this disaster cannot afford to wait.”
The Social Democrats acting leader Cian O’Callaghan also called for the Dail to be recalled this week so that efforts to restore power were not happening “in a vacuum”.
“It beggars belief that, in the midst of this crisis, there are no plans for the Dail to sit,” he said.
“Storm Eowyn was one of the most powerful and damaging wind events to hit the country in nearly 200 years.
“Yet, the Government wants to continue with a two-week recess while families and communities are left to pick up the pieces.
“It is critical that the Dail sits this week so that the destruction that has been caused in so many parts of the country can be discussed – along with plans to provide emergency supports.”
Aontu leader Peadar Toibin said there was “growing frustration” at the pace of reconnection and it was “incredible” that the Dail was not sitting.
“The Government is the administration of this country. How can the Dail administer anything if its not sitting. How can TDs properly hold the Government to account if it’s not even meeting.”
He added: “Weather events like these will only increase in frequency with global warming yet the Government’s response is to leave TDs sitting at home.”
