Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Feb 2025

Vol. 1062 No. 4

Government’s Response to Storm Éowyn: Statements (Resumed)

Deputy Mark Wall

If the Chair will indulge me for a moment, as this is the first time I have spoken in this historic Chamber as an elected Member of Dáil Éireann, I would like to thank the people of Kildare South for putting their faith in me. I assure them that I will work tirelessly for them, their families and all the great communities that we have in that most important county in the State. I thank my wife, Michelle; my sons, Eoin and Cathal; my father, Jack; and all the members of my family who worked so hard in recent years to support me. I also thank the many supporters and friends who helped me in so many ways during recent campaigns. It is an honour I do not take lightly.

As other Members, including the Labour Party leader, have done, I will put on the record the thanks of the Labour Party to all the front-line responders who put their lives at risk during Storm Éowyn to ensure the general public were protected. They have done so during similar events previously and they continue to do so when called upon. We should never forget first responders and the work they do. We should always continue to support them at every opportunity in the great work they do.

We must also remember that the storm, unfortunately, took a life. I send my condolences to the family of Kacper Dudek on the tragic loss of his life. I also send my condolences to the family that Deputy Conway-Walsh has just informed the House of. My own county of Kildare did not escape the hardship and destruction of the storm. Indeed, I have spent time in recent days with a number of constituents whose power only returned in the past number of days. In the run-up to the storm, we saw some great examples of community spirit as other Members of this House have already said, with local bus companies in my area offering lifts to older people and with neighbours looking after one another at all times. Hotels offered food and washing facilities. All of that is good in this country. However, as good as those intentions were before, during and after the storm, there can be no doubt that we must learn lessons in its aftermath. We must plan better for the future. We are facing a climate crisis that is undeniable. This storm was described as a once-in-100-years storm but such storms will become more regular. We cannot afford the unco-ordinated response we saw in many places over the past 12 days.

Like other Members of this House, I took multiple calls from constituents in the aftermath of the storm who had no idea when their electricity would be restored. One such call was from the family of a young child who is recovering from major surgery. There was no heating in their home when it was vital to the recovery of that child. I also received multiple calls from the families of vulnerable people who felt isolated and cold, and who could not communicate with their loved ones. The bottom line is that these people are the most vulnerable in our society. They include a 75-year-old lady who has to care for her husband who has dementia. She did not know how she would care for him or how she could explain to him what was going on with this massive change in their lives. Their power only came back at the weekend. This lady, like so many of her neighbours throughout Kildare, looked after her neighbours, showing again the great spirit of so many communities in Kildare.

The first lesson we have to learn from this storm is the need to compile a definitive list of vulnerable communities and the members of those communities, as has already been mentioned. This should involve all Departments of the State. We have the knowledge in the lists of vulnerable people that are held by power supply companies. The Minister has such a list in the Department of Social Protection and there are other lists with other State bodies. I listened with interest to the comment by the Minister for the environment, who said that all sectors need to understand who their vulnerable customers are and noted the need for the relevant agencies and Departments to work together to ensure a co-ordinated approach. What we need is for the Government to take the lead. That has not happened over the past 12 days. The most vulnerable have been left behind and they are the most important people who contacted all public representatives over those days. They felt isolated and left behind.

I will also speak about the co-ordination of emergency hubs, which needs to be handled better and quicker than it was in recent days. In my own area, a number of GAA clubs have opened their doors, offering food, power and showering facilities to members and non-members alike. Those clubs include Clogherinkoe, Carbury, Allenwood and Robertstown. They came to the fore again, as they always have. They are the heartbeats of our communities. There are over 2,000 GAA clubs on this island, in every corner of the island, rural and urban. A recent suggestion made to me was that we must work with the GAA to utilise its facilities and hubs in the event of further storms and serious events. It was mentioned earlier that many of these clubs have received grants for generators, which are essential in such a scenario. Other clubs are seeking sports capital grants to avail of generators or to replace existing ones. The Government needs to work with this network of community facilities and their parent organisation to ensure they are ready for such events. We must ensure that each club has a working modern generator. That would greatly assist many communities in the aftermath of such an event in the future.

The Minister for housing said earlier that we need to work more closely with local authorities. My local authority, Kildare County Council, recently began to look at the number of community facilities within the county of Kildare. I believe that needs to be expanded throughout the State. We need to know what community facilities are available and what can be offered to communities, particularly those in rural areas, at times of emergency. It is something the Government should take on board quickly.

As other Members, including the Minister, Deputy Calleary, have said, I thank all the emergency workers, including those working for the ESB and Uisce Éireann. I pay particular tribute to Mr. Seán Murphy of the ESB. I have spoken to him often in recent days and he has, in fairness, always come back to me. It is important that we have that kind of connection with those who work in these State agencies.

I hoped the Minister for housing would be here while I finished my contribution. Some of my colleagues mentioned the issue of air-to-water systems, which have let down so many people. Many people have got on to me in recent weeks about the failure of those systems in their homes. Their chimneys were taken out as a direct result of the installation of these air-to-water systems and those people were left without heating in their homes at a time when they needed it most. We need to revisit that and come up with solutions into the future.

The power of local radio was mentioned. My local radio station, KFM, is at the heartbeat of communities. It gave out messages day in and day out and many people relied on the station.

The importance of a working grid has also been mentioned.

It has never been more important that we have a working grid. It is the topic that has been spoken about by so many communities.

Deputy Eoghan Kenny

With the impact of the recent winter snowstorms and Storm Éowyn still being felt, with 18,000 still without power, it is vital that this Government commence a relief scheme to support those who have suffered damage to commercial property and farming property. I have been contacted by many people over the past three weeks who have had damage to their homes and business following the effect of these storms. I have also been contacted by numerous farmers who have suffered significant damage to property. Many of these have told me that their insurance policies do not cover damage to property caused by storms and extreme weather events. Whatever the Minister stated earlier about insurance companies and his contact with them, it does not cover the majority of people who have contacted my constituency office.

Many small businesses, small farmers and households simply do not have the funds to manage these repairs. They are now in a position where their livelihoods and homes are damaged through no fault of their own. The Minister might note in the programme for Government that there is an extreme weather assistance scheme that the Minister said predated this storm. If we are to say that this storm is the worst so far in the history of the State, I would expect Deputy Calleary, as Minister, to outline whether or not he will bring in a humanitarian assistance scheme for small farmers and small businesses affected where insurance does not provide coverage. Following previous storms and flooding events, that humanitarian relief scheme was established to support people who have suffered such losses during these weather events. These supports will be vital for households and small enterprises to rebuild their homes and livelihoods going forward.

To give an example of a farmer, a small farmer in north Cork contacted me, initially regarding significant damage to a shed roof due to excessive snow build-up leading to the roof caving in, rendering that shed unusable. It was incredibly fortunate that there were no animals or people in the shed at the time, as the loss would have been much worse. This happened during the snowstorm experienced at the beginning of January. This farmer has been told by his insurance company that damage caused by weather events such as this is not covered by the insurers. I find that to be totally unfair, but the injustices present in the insurance sector are a conversation for another day. This situation involves a small farmer with a small farm who will now be out of pocket through no fault of his own. This is not a large farm operation that has funds to rebuild, restore and return to working order. This will be a significant cost and, right now, there is no support, as I said. The damage suffered during the snowstorm has worsened since the recent Storm Éowyn.

In numerous cases across north Cork, people are being left without the supports they need to rebuild their livelihoods. I am not calling for supports for industry that has the means to sustain itself and weather these storms, but it is vital for the rural economy and for agriculture that smaller farmers and farms like these receive some supports from the State, otherwise people like that small farmer who contacted my office in Mallow face losing all of their assets. The relevant Departments must offer a scheme to support small farmers and the rural economy immediately. I noted this morning that the parliamentary question I asked the Minister has not been responded to in a way that I and the small farmer who contacted my office would appreciate. I ask the Minister to revisit that, look at it and see whether or not the opportunity can be made available for people like the small farmer and small business owner, where insurance does not cover damage caused.

In addition to this, there must be a ramped-up effort to expand the humanitarian relief funds to address the significant damage to our roads during the recent storms. I highlight the N72, the main Mallow to Killarney road. This road has been in a dire state for the past four years and, since the beginning of January, it has deteriorated at an alarming rate. This road is one of the busiest national secondary roads in the country, with daily usage by hundreds of private cars in the community for work and school, as well as heavy industrial use for haulage, logistics, construction and agriculture. We have numerous neighbours and people in communities in Cullen, Knocknagree, Dernagree, Kanturk, Newmarket, Banteer and Bóthar Buí who have faced safety issues and car damage due to the road's condition. The road is frequently used by tourists travelling to Killarney. I was there myself at the weekend. The road poses a serious hazard for anybody who is not familiar with the road.

Prior to the winter and recent storms, the portion of the road between Clonbanin Cross and the Lislehane area was the worst-affected area of the road. The Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, sitting next to the Minister, Deputy Calleary, would be able to tell him that. This is nearly an 8 km stretch. Now, the condition of the road, beginning around the Ballyclogh turn-off and Lombardstown cross area, as far as Rathmore on the County Kerry border, is terrible and frankly unsafe. That represents nearly 30 km of roads. We are aware that funding for a small portion of this road had been granted at the end of 2024, but meaningful work on the road has yet to transpire. Additional funding must now be made available to repair the road to a safe and sufficient standard. That is the least that motorists across this country deserve. Last year, locals in the area held a demonstration on the road, calling for repairs and resurfacing. It is shameful. Now, after nearly five years of this carry-on, the road is getting worse and worse. I call on the Minister to act on this.

Deputy Ryan O'Meara

It is an honour of a lifetime to stand in this historic Chamber to make my maiden speech to a quiet Dáil. I thank the people of north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny for placing their trust in me and for giving me the privilege of being our collective voice in Dáil Éireann. As one of the youngest Members of this House, I made a promise to be a new, fresh and energetic voice for the people of north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny. I intend to work every day to deliver for my area and the Irish people on key issues of local and national importance. I thank the Fianna Fáil organisation in north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny for its support during the local and general elections last year. I particularly acknowledge my family and friends for their support. It is a privilege to represent our party in Dáil Éireann and to stand here today as a Fianna Fáil TD. I want us in this House and my party to have ambition for our future for what we can collectively achieve as we move Ireland forward together.

The record-breaking storm, the extratropical cyclone, Storm Éowyn, did unprecedented damage to communities across this country. Power has been restored to about 750,000 homes, farms, schools and businesses by now but some 25,000 customers still remain without supply. As we know, full restoration could continue for a number of days. At this point, I acknowledge the incredibly hard work of our front-line staff, particularly the ESB and front-line workers, for braving the elements and working incredibly hard in tough conditions to restore power and services at a scale we have never seen in this country before. These workers left their families for extended periods. They went and worked in their own communities to get power restored before finally moving to other communities. Having spoken to ESB workers and their families in recent days, there were days on end when some of those workers were going out into the community to restore power and then coming home to their own family and home in the evening, still without power. They brave the elements after every storm, including after the snowstorm which hit us badly in Tipperary. They truly deserve to be acknowledged for that, along with their colleagues who have travelled here from Europe.

I want this conversation to also focus on how this country will be equipped for future storms, which we are bound to be impacted by. I welcome the Government's action to establish emergency response hubs and the humanitarian assistance scheme for those worst-affected by the storm damage. Plans must now be made for future emergency response hubs so that in the event of a major power outage such as this, our local authorities have the locations ready at short notice, and the ability to communicate those locations to constituents when they possibly cannot be communicated with due to lack of energy, lack of phone reception, and so on.

Fallen trees were obviously a major issue across the country. We saw it in north Tipperary in particular. The damage done by fallen trees has an awful lot to answer for, considering the power outages caused. We must have a programme that allows for the felling of trees around power lines. Particularly in areas where cables are running through forestry, we need programmes for maintenance of those cables. Many people back home have mentioned images in the media and ESB workers saying that they were essentially re-laying cables for what seemed like the very first time. I believe Coillte and private forests have much to answer for in that to ensure that the space around cabling is much wider for future storms.

The undergrounding of cables has also been brought up with me. We are possibly behind our European counterparts in getting cables underground. It is not something we can do as part of an emergency response but, thinking about the future, it is something we have to consider. There is also the issue of roadside ditches and roadside trees. Through Government, our local authorities need to be equipped to enforce laws in that area to protect our power lines, phone lines and fibre optic cables.

While the Minister of State with responsibility for forestry is here, I will raise the issue of ash dieback. It has come up in this Chamber and he will be familiar with it. Farming organisations and forestry groups have been calling for a programme for the felling of ash trees for a number of years now. Every ash tree in this country is now a danger. The more storms we get, the more dangerous they are going to be. None of them are going to escape ash dieback. Our farmers need assistance to get rid of those trees both in roadside ditches where there is a public safety concern and right across the board.

In my hometown of Nenagh, the power went out in certain areas. To be fair, we were very lucky and it was only for a short period of time. However, the power had been back a day when the water in the town went. The businesses had to contend with that. Cafés and restaurants had to close and shops could not continue to operate. We need back-up generators for Irish Water wherever they are needed.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Healy-Rae)

The recent storms have caused significant damage to farms and forests, which has resulted in considerable hardship throughout the country. I appreciate this opportunity to provide an overview of the current situation and to update the House on my Department's response to Storm Éowyn.

Large numbers of forests throughout the country have fallen trees. Once the storm hit, I immediately issued guidance for those forest owners with windblow. I advised them not to rush into decisions but to make a step-by-step plan to minimise risk and to maximise the salvage value of their plantations. I encourage all forest owners who experienced wind damage in their forests to familiarise themselves with the guidance issued. It is important that forest owners realise that, although their forests have suffered windblow damage, there may well be significant value to be realised from the fallen trees. I urge private forest owners to consult with forestry professionals in Teagasc or with a professional forester who can help them to take the right course of action. I also recommend that owners look into the possibility of co-operating with adjacent forest owners. Lower recovery costs can be achieved and higher prices offered where forest owners achieve economies of scale by working together in these situations.

With regard to our immediate response to the storm damage, along with Coillte, my Department, along with Coillte, has started a process using satellite imagery to provide information nationally at forest level. This assessment of damage nationally using satellite imagery will aid in determining the extent of damage and will provide a map indicating where damage from the recent storms has occurred in each forest. This information will help to inform any next steps. We have already decided to prioritise applications for felling and road licences that are required in storm-affected areas. I assure the House that we are taking all possible steps to facilitate an appropriate response to allow forest owners to clear blown trees in a safe and sustainable manner. Forest owners subject to windblow require a felling licence as trees will still need to be cut, harvested and removed. I am committed to making this process as efficient and fast as possible for our forest owners. Yesterday, I held a meeting of the forestry windblow task force, which comprises key stakeholders including forest owners, forestry companies, Teagasc and Coillte. The aim of the task force is to co-ordinate the response to the storms with particular emphasis on dealing safely with the large areas of forest that have been blown down. I am pleased to say that it was a very positive and collaborative meeting. Everyone's priority is to help those forestry owners who were badly affected by Storm Éowyn. We have scheduled another meeting for early next week to monitor progress, to offer practical advice and to help affected forest owners.

The task force will address the interaction of forestry with power lines. One of the actions for my Department in the programme for Government is to work with the ESB to support and accelerate the timber and vegetation clearance programme. I am fully committed to this process. Contact has already been made with the ESB and we will aim to facilitate any mitigations or actions it proposes with regard to the interaction of power lines and forestry.

This morning, I engaged with forestry owners on the ground in County Meath to see for myself the damage and devastation caused by windblow. I thank the Farrelly family for hosting my officials and me on their land. I look forward to working with all stakeholders and am absolutely committed to addressing the seriousness of the situation we now face.

I am aware of reports of significant damage to the horticultural sector. Just this morning, I met with the Connolly family on their mushroom farm in County Monaghan to witness for myself the effect the storm had on their business, which is substantial. I thank them again for hosting my officials and me this morning. My Department and I will continue to engage with Teagasc and the other stakeholders to get a full handle on the extent of the damage throughout the country. I will meet with representatives of the horticultural subsectors at a meeting of the horticultural industry forum on 11 February. This meeting was not actually due to be held until the end of the month but, due to the seriousness of the situation, I instructed that it be brought forward to next week. This will provide me with an opportunity to hear directly from growers on the impacts of the storm on their sectors and on wider sectoral issues and opportunities. I look forward to this engagement very much.

Finally, I thank the people in County Kerry, the ESB, the local authorities and all of the other agencies for their help.

Deputy Cormac Devlin

I thank my constituents in Dún Laoghaire for their support in the most recent election. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Teachta O'Meara on his maiden speech.

I welcome the opportunity to examine the Government response and national response to Storm Éowyn. I acknowledge the exceptional efforts of our front-line workers, including those in the ESB and Irish Water who have helped non-stop since Storm Éowyn hit Ireland on the morning of 24 January. I also acknowledge the efforts of teams from abroad. Skilled technicians fromAustria, Finland, France, Britain, Germany and Norway are on the ground in the worst-impacted areas, supporting over 2,500 local ESB Networks crews.

Storm Éowyn was a record-breaking extra-tropical cyclone. To put it in context, it was one of the worst winter storms to hit Ireland since oíche na gaoithe móire, the night of the big wind, in 1839, which itself was reported at the time to be the worst storm in 300 years. It has been noted by Professor John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth that the night of the big wind is considered to be the worst scenario for insurance purposes here in Ireland. While instruments were relatively rudimentary in 1839, it should be noted that maximum gusts recorded from the night of the big wind were reported to be just 2 km/h more than the 183 km/h recorded at Mace Head, Connemara, two weeks ago.

The aftermath of Storm Éowyn saw over 1 million households on the island lose power, 743,000 of these in the Twenty-six Counties. This has caused great hardship for many people, particularly vulnerable households, which we have heard about this afternoon. While we can be thankful that almost all homes, farms, schools and businesses have seen their power and water restored, a reported 25,000 homes are still without power.

Elements of the national response have been very effective but there are lessons to be learned and I welcome the commitment from an Taoiseach today that national regulations will be amended to ensure human safety will be put first at all times. We have seen how trees that were too close to homes, roads and power lines caused significant damage and interruption to utilities. This is an issue impacting both urban and rural areas. Local authorities must be instructed to introduce regulations and policies that put safety first. They need to fell or prune trees where they pose a danger.

We have seen a great effort to establish 335 emergency response hubs across 17 local authority areas as well as local co-ordination groups in 16 local authority areas. However, it is clear we need to improve our emergency preparedness ahead of the next very significant weather event. Each community across the country should have designated emergency shelters to which households at risk of or impacted by a natural disaster can evacuate. GAA halls, community centres, schools and hotels could be ideal. Future developments of these types should be supported by Government to ensure they are fit for purpose for use in emergencies. These centres should be fitted out with emergency facilities and generators. The Government should also establish a scheme to support key services such as GP services, clinics and pharmacies in isolated parts of the country to ensure they have sufficient generation or battery backup power.

We must also improve practical efforts to ensure people can access increased emergency funding more quickly. I thank the Ministers for their support in their rapid response to the needs of people in the affected areas.

I pay tribute to everyone involved in the response from our front-line workers, including the Garda and Civil Defence, other front-line workers throughout Ireland, and the teams from abroad, to the community groups, such as Meals on Wheels and local authority teams, which have worked night and day over the past two weeks to alleviate the hardship caused by these terrible events.

Deputy Matt Carthy

I commend those who helped individuals, families and communities following the devastation of Storm Éowyn. These include workers from the ESB, Uisce Éireann, local authorities and phone companies, those local businesses that stood up to the mark to support their communities, the farmers who cleared roads, and those communities that stood together, opened their halls and ensured that assistance was given where and when it was needed. In many respects, we saw the best of Ireland and the Irish people over the past two weeks.

However, a lot of lessons will have to be learned following the storm. Communities, especially across the Border and in western counties such as Monaghan and Cavan, simply will not tolerate any repeat of the situation that we have experienced over recent times. Once all services have been restored, the priority must be to ensure that we have no repeat of this situation. There is real anger from some sections of our communities. The extent to which phone signal, electricity and water was lost was unprecedented but the real issue is the length of time people were left without those essential services. People feel let down and forgotten because many of the regions worst-affected have never been a priority for the Government. If the worst-affected areas were in Dún Laoghaire and Howth rather than Aghnamullen and Raferagh, I have no doubt that this Dáil would have sat last week. As well as homes, the prolonged outages in the aftermath of the storm have had a huge impact on businesses, schools and other essential services. Lessons need to be learned. There need to be better contingency plans for supporting people when something like this occurs.

I commend all those community and volunteer groups, including GAA clubs and others, which picked up the pieces and put in place facilities such as charging, showers and hot drinks, but as we face into more frequent and stronger storms due to climate change we have to be better prepared. We have taxed people with carbon taxes to push them to get electric cars, to stop burning turf and to get rid of solid fuel stoves only for them to be totally reliant on electricity that some have now been without for 12 days. There needs to be significant investment in the upkeep of our electricity transmission network. We need backup plans for essential services. Communications are crucial. The loss of mobile phone connectivity caused real difficulties leaving many vulnerable people isolated. Hard-pressed families should not be out of pocket as a result of a situation like this.

We know that those who can afford it have spent money on generators, hot food and, in some cases, even alternative accommodation. While access to the immediate needs form without a means test is welcome, it is not enough. The automatic compensation scheme that is in place in Scotland should be considered. Under the Scottish system, households get approximately €1,000 if their power is gone for a week. Here, households are expected to pay the standing charge for a period when they were without power. The ESB, one of the most profitable companies in this country, has suggested it might even hike up prices further as a result of the storm. As households are compensated for power loss of more than 48 hours under the Scottish scheme, there is a clear incentive for energy companies to ensure that the transmission network is maintained.

Forestry, some of which is planted by vulture funds, often brings minimal value to communities. Much of it is not native. Logging trucks are taking a toll on local roads. The only thing that some communities say they get from forestry are prolonged blackouts and power cuts. The forestry sector must also be held to account to ensure that it is not putting the electricity transmission network at risk. The call by farmers for a scheme to remove trees affected by ash dieback disease was never heeded. We paid a heavy price for that as many of the fallen lines were as a result of those trees. That scheme should be in place within a month. I am disappointed that the forestry Minister did not even mention it.

The network has to be resilient. That means planning for the generation ahead and considering undergrounding lines when possible. This should obviously start with new lines. The North-South interconnector, for example, should and must be undergrounded. We should never again have a situation where people are denied water because water treatment plants do not have standby generators. Those generators should be sourced and provided to every public and group water scheme right now. Generators should also be sourced for group homes, including for people with disabilities, and for schools and other essential public buildings, especially in areas that are at most high risk of future blackouts.

In my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, hundreds of families are still without power. That is not acceptable. The very least that they ask and deserve is an assurance that it will never happen again.

An Ceann Comhairle

We move to the Social Democrats. Two Deputies are sharing, beginning with Deputy Cian O'Callaghan followed by Deputy Jennifer Whitmore.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I express our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and all the loved ones of the young man who died in the storm. The heartbreak and pain from having the life of a loved one, a young person, cut off are unthinkable. I wanted to express that sympathy.

I also pay tribute to the incredible work done by the ESB and international crews in restoring power. They have put in a massive effort and huge hours. We are all very proud of the work they have done. The Dáil should have met last week. There should have been accountability from the Government on this. It is very regrettable that there was not. There is a sense of abandonment. People feel they have been forgotten about and abandoned during this process. To be without electricity, which is crucial for all aspects of our lives, for a few hours causes a huge impact. A few days without it is very difficult for people, but to be at this point of almost two weeks causes a massive issue for them. It affects everybody but particularly older people, disabled people, and those with different medical conditions and equipment. It also has an impact on small farmers.

We heard very eloquently from a young disabled woman who uses an electric wheelchair about how this has affected her. Emma Ward from Athenry, County Galway, who has been without electricity since the storm said, "My power wheelchair is very heavy and now I’m having to monitor how long I use it. I get about eight hours of battery. I’m having to pick when I sit in it, which is awful because the cold is making my back and my hips very sore." She went on to say:

I don’t think the Government prepared enough, especially for vulnerable people like myself. I do feel forgotten about. The West was one of the worst affected places, being a wheelchair-user and a vulnerable person at the same time on top of that, it’s very annoying ... We’re nearly two weeks without power.

This is the huge human impact on people. For some, the incorrect information on restoration dates has added to their sense of frustration. Public representatives in some parts of the country have called on the ESB to stop giving restoration dates that it cannot meet. When they work it is very useful information, but when people have been given a restoration date three, four or five times, only for it to fall through, at that point that kind of information which cannot be relied on is not helpful for people. It creates false expectations.

On measures that need to be taken now, there must be short-term measures for some people for whom this has created a lot of hardship. We should bear in mind that a lot of people have been without electricity for a prolonged period. We are talking about rural communities where there are often many households on very low incomes, including small farmers. Some real hardship has been caused by this. There needs to be targeted support for people who are in hardship. On medium-term actions, in case of any future storms like this, we need to have supports in place for affected homeowners, farms and communities. These supports need to be put in place now so we are ready for the next storm. The issue of regulation of forestry and the forestry industry was mentioned. There has to be responsibility and accountability from the forestry industry for their responsibilities in management and maintenance of forestry and the impact it has on people's electricity supplies.

The State's inadequate response to the storm has led to understandable public anger. The calls we made for the Dáil to be recalled should have been listened to by the Government.

It would not have hurt for the Government to have had the Dáil meet last week, which would have meant accountability on this. It would have created a sense of reassurance that there was someone in charge of managing this national emergency and that there was leadership at a time of heightened anxiety and uncertainty. It would have allowed the Taoiseach and the Ministers from the relevant Departments to come into the Dáil to explain their co-ordinated response to the unfolding crisis. Important questions should have been raised last week on the areas most impacted and in need of immediate help and on what was being done to identify the most vulnerable, including the elderly, families with young children, people with serious medical conditions and those living alone and left without light, heat and water in some of the remotest parts of the country. These are the things we rightly would have been raising and that are still relevant. We would have asked what financial supports would be available to households and businesses left for days or weeks without electricity, water or, indeed, functioning mobile phone networks, and how this essential information would be communicated to people with no access to radio, Wi-Fi and so forth.

Of course, we now know why no such plan was brought before the Dáil last week: the Government simply did not have one. There was no proper contingency planning. We did not get the information about the emergency funding that had been set aside to offset financial losses suffered by households, farmers and small business owners, nor did we get information about how those living with medical conditions would be able to contact their GPs in an emergency if their electricity and mobile phone networks were cut off. The Government, by not being accountable to the Dáil on this, was missing in action. We need to know from it what proper, concrete plans have been put in place for future storms and other such events, which will occur, unfortunately.

Saying people feel forgotten, abandoned and betrayed is not in any way to take away from the incredible work that has been done by the thousands of ESB and international crews and their contractors, who really have been working in extremely challenging conditions to restore power to homes and businesses around the country, and the work done by communities, first responders and local volunteers, who have offered invaluable assistance. We all owe them a debt of gratitude for what they have done. Unfortunately, we cannot say the work has been matched at a political level by the Government. For example, there have been inexcusable delays in opening up community hubs in many parts of the country. I refer to places where people could do simple things like wash, charge a mobile phone, have a cooked meal or simply stay warm. Basic facilities such as these should have been put in place well in advance of the storm’s arrival.

The Minister of State should not underestimate the level of public anger over the Government’s completely inept handling of this crisis. As he knows, we have had experts warning that Ireland is not resilient in the face of climate change. The frequency of storms will increase, so it is time for the Government to seriously up its game.

Deputy Jennifer Whitmore

It is 13 days since Storm Éowyn ripped through the country, including many homes, businesses and farms, causing devastation for so many, especially in the west and north west. It has been a very difficult period for people. When they saw there was no Dáil sitting last week, they really were asking where their politicians and leaders were. I agree with them. Unfortunately, the Government seemed to disappear when the storm happened. It kept the head down and only popped it up in the past few days with some solutions to the problems being raised. It was particularly difficult for Opposition and, I would imagine, Government back bench TDs when constituents were raising issues directly impacting them and their homes and asking specific questions, with no opportunity for those TDs to raise the questions with the Minister on the floor of the Dáil. That is something the Government should learn from. Many people in the country were living through a crisis and the Dáil was not sitting.

We need to contrast the Government’s activity with that of the likes of the ESB, Uisce Éireann, local authorities and many community organisations throughout the country and their sacrifice and work to ensure the impacts of the storm were mitigated as quickly as possible. I acknowledge their efforts and, indeed, those of the workers who came from overseas to help us when we needed them.

The Government has used the phrase that the storm was "without precedent". That is absolutely true in that we have never seen anything like it in recent history. However, it should not have been unexpected and we should have been preparing for it. There has been warning after warning about the fact we would see more intense storms. Our climate is changing. When the Minister and I sat together on the climate committee, we would have had these discussions. The storm should not have come as a surprise to anybody. Our climate is changing and has changed. What we have not really considered in the Dáil and in this country is the issue of adaptation. We rightly tend to spend a lot of time on the mitigation side of climate action, but the adaptation side needs equal focus. That was clearly illustrated over the past couple of weeks. We are not going to be able to prevent these storms. We do not know when they are going to happen. A one in a hundred years storm could happen next week or in a hundred years – we do not know – but science and technology enable us to be much better at predicting them. As a State, we are, or should be, in a much better place to prepare for them. That is where the gap was this week. There was no plan, and that could be seen in the response of the Government, especially in the most rural and local communities.

This is not just rhetoric saying the Government has no plan because it actually had no plan. There is an emergency response framework for flooding and there are plans for nuclear, rail and maritime disasters. For some reason, we do not have an emergency response plan for storms despite having had Storm Ophelia and a multitude of other very serious storms over the years. This is a huge oversight and it needs to be rectified immediately.

I had a briefing from the ESB yesterday and the Government TDs probably had also. What was clear from it was that the logistics the ESB had to apply were incredible. Thousands upon thousands of staff, whether on the ground or in call centres, were reaching out to vulnerable people, organising accommodation and doing all that kind of work. It really felt to me, however, that the ESB was left to do the heavy lifting on this and that the problem was seen as one of electricity supply. Obviously it was, but we did not see support from or heavy lifting being done by the likes of the HSE in reaching out to GPs and health centres to ensure the latter had generators. Schools were without power for weeks and there was no remote learning for children. All sorts of measures were required so there should have been a whole-of-government response. We did not see that.

I was most concerned about our most vulnerable. We heard people on the radio a lot saying they felt they had been left behind. That was their experience. They referred to the difficulties they faced in getting water, keeping warm and cooking food. I refer to people with disabilities and the elderly. The one thing on which they were all consistent was the lack of contact from the Government.

Let me refer to other thing that really struck me. I was worried about the people who were not able to get to their emergency hubs to charge their phones to make calls to the radio stations. Who was looking after the people who did not have a bus to bring them to the centres and who had no one looking out for them? The Government needs to step in to ensure the most vulnerable will be supported.

I also refer to agriculture because what we have seen over recent weeks really demonstrates how vulnerable the sector is to climate change and these kinds of climate events.

We need to have a much greater focus on helping our farmers to transition to be able to deal with these events. However, I also want to call on the Minister of State because, unfortunately, we did not have the Minister for agriculture in the Chamber today. The horticulture sector is one that has been hit particularly badly by these storms. It is a sector that creates 7,000 jobs, which brings a huge amount of value to our economy, but it is also a sector that sort of lives on the margins. It is not one of the big earners when it comes to farming. People in this sector are going to find it very difficult to get over the damage and the costs they have accrued over the course of this storm. I ask that the Minister of State reach out and perhaps talk to the Minister and ask for a support scheme for those people to make sure they actually get to continue to produce beyond this storm event.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy. We now move to a 15-minute Government slot that will be shared by three Deputies, beginning with Deputy Dempsey.

Deputy Aisling Dempsey

Is lá bródúil é dom a bheith anseo ag tabhairt mo chéad óráid. It is a proud day to be here giving my first speech in Dáil Eireann. It is a great honour to be here on behalf of the people of Meath West who I will represent every day with integrity and passion. My first thoughts in rising to speak are for the thousands of people who have suffered the loss of power and water over the past couple of weeks, the people whose lives and businesses were badly affected for days and in some cases up to the present day, and the farmers and business owners whose livelihoods have been disrupted severely as a result of this storm. I pay tribute to all those involved in the work that was required in the aftermath of the storm including the local authority workers, especially those in my own Meath County Council, the ESB, the telecom workers and the very many individuals and groups, such as the Civil Defence, who worked to alleviate the worst effects of the storm. In that, I include many of my colleagues here in the House today. As a recently elected Deputy, it was an experience I will never forget. I received hundreds of calls, texts and emails from constituents all across Meath West, such as Tommy, who was released from hospital to a freezing dark house and whose neighbours had to put an extension lead in through his windows to run the medical equipment he needed so desperately. Ruth, a mother of four school-age children with animals to feed and shelter, had a freezer and fridge full of food that had gone to waste. Annette has a family-run business and was unable to power the machinery to keep their business going. They are obviously only a flavour of the people with whom I have been in touch. I know we all have many stories like that, and some much more heartbreaking accounts.

Our community has not let us down during the aftermath of this storm, however. Hubs such as the Athboy community centre and Ballinlough, Simonstown, Kilskeer, Carnaross and Saint Brigid's in Oldcastle, which were all GAA clubs that opened their doors and hearts to the local community. These and many more voluntary and community-based groups have responded, as they always have and as they did for the Ukrainian crisis and many others, to unprecedented events with a hot cup of tea, a phone charge or a shower and a chat, reconnecting people to the outside world.

Storm Éowyn, an unprecedented natural event, must teach and has taught us many lessons. First and foremost, storms of this magnitude can no longer be called unprecedented or unexpected. We must cater for them more into the future. Our TDs and Ministers and our Taoiseach were on the ground dealing with the aftereffects of the storm over the past 13 days and played vital roles in the aftermath. I commend their leadership and hard work. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, in particular, has done fantastic work in the social protection brief as part of the humanitarian assistance scheme. I thank him for the alleviation of stress for many people.

National and local government must engage with our landowners, farmers and agricultural contractors and ensure they can and will work hand in hand with our State agencies and public bodies as part of clean-up operations in the future. Landowners must take responsibility, as must the ESB, to ensure our power lines are clear of vegetation into the future. We cannot forget those who are still without power and water, and while some might dismiss the lack of broadband and phone coverage as a First World problem, sometimes this is people's only connection to the outside world. We must ensure the ESB, Eir and all other parties are prepared for future events like this. I welcome the statements made here by some of the Ministers that future events will be catered for more appropriately in the future.

Deputy Michael Murphy

I will follow earlier precedent, this being my maiden speech, to thank the people of south Tipperary for putting confidence in me to be their legislator and parliamentarian at the national level. I am very much looking forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead, and I am always conscious of the trust placed in me by the electorate of south Tipperary.

I want to reflect on the role of local authorities having regard to recent weather events, not just Storm Éowyn but also, for example, the cold snap in early January that brought my constituency of south Tipperary to a standstill, leading to unprecedented disruption for communities and, indeed, small businesses across the county. This for me has underscored the need for local authorities to work together and share resources during these adverse weather conditions. Like those who spoke previously, I pay tribute to council workers, utility workers and Civil Defence and community volunteers for their extraordinary efforts during recent weather events. What was evident to me, however, was that local authorities were not as prepared as they should have been.

It is a fact that in many of these weather events, not all counties are impacted. A memorandum of understanding between local authorities would provide for a strong package of supports between local authorities, safeguarding adequate service delivery during adverse challenges such as the recent weather event we have just seen. I give the example of the ESB Networks and the close co-operation that exists between its counterparts across the European Union. As it stands right now, Clare County Council does not come to the assistance of Limerick City and County Council, Limerick City and County Council does not come to the assistance of Tipperary County Council, Tipperary County Council does not come to the assistance of Waterford City and County Council and so on. Practically speaking, it would enable local authorities to share equipment and personnel while sharing good practice across the sector. Where any county or region is disproportionately affected, it should be possible to mobilise additional services from neighbouring local authorities unaffected by the weather event. A memorandum of understanding would give that additional layer of security to local authorities that help will be provided if possible. This needs careful consideration. Increasingly, we are experiencing adverse weather, and an ability to plan and prepare for all disruptions must be prioritised. I call on the Minister of State to engage with the CCMA and the emergency co-ordination response team in this regard. We can often be critical of local authorities, but if we empower them, provide the additional resources they need and ensure closer co-operation, they can deliver with precision and in a timely manner. Local authorities are the first line of defence. As I said, I call for closer co-operation and that memorandum of understanding between local authorities to be given careful consideration.

Deputy Edward Timmins

During my first words in the Dáil earlier this afternoon, I was restricted to one minute. Now, I have five minutes and I do not think I even need five minutes.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy has seven minutes.

Deputy Edward Timmins

First, I pay tribute to the people of County Wicklow who elected me here. I thank them for placing their trust in me. Second, I would like to say that I want to work with the other three Wicklow TDs - Deputy Whitmore has just stepped out of the Chamber - for the betterment of County Wicklow. Third, and probably more importantly, I want to work with every Deputy in this House for the betterment of this country. I am happy to work with everyone to improve the quality of life for the citizens of this country.

I will be brief in my contribution on the power outages because I do not want to repeat what has been said already. I will say a couple of things, however, the first of which is on the whole area of tree maintenance. I actually met with senior ESB people across the road in Buswells Hotel in October when they made a presentation to Deputies from County Wicklow because there had been a considerable number of outages last summer all over the county. I learned from this that the main issue was that there was a serious issue with poor tree maintenance. That was the main cause of many of the problems. It is easy to be wise after the event, but this storm was much worse because tree maintenance was not at the standard it should have been.

That is a lesson that has to be learned. I am sure the ESB knows it a lot better than I do, but it needs to be put out there. The second point is around communication. Obviously, phones, TVs and so on do not work during the power outages, but there are other methods of communication. A lot of people pull down the radios, get batteries and get them working. The information on the radio from the ESB could have been better. All the ESB communication mechanisms need to be improved. The other area that can make for good communication is local and national newspapers that come out on a daily basis. The ESB did fantastic work with great people who worked overtime. I know that myself, I saw it all over the place. They just need to communicate their message better to the public.

Deputy Pa Daly

The impact of the recent heavy snow and of Storm Éowyn has been utterly devastating. It exposed the vulnerability of Ireland's creaking infrastructure. Climate scientists have been warning for years of the increasing likelihood of extreme weather events, yet we were totally unprepared. Households the length and breadth of the country found themselves in desperate situations. In the peak of the aftermath, three quarters of a million homes were without power. Two weeks have now passed and nothing has changed for thousands of people. They cannot wash themselves, turn on the light or heat their homes. For the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, the lack of water and power poses a real risk to their lives. I dealt with people who were trapped in their own homes and whose home carers could not attend to them, people with mobility issues who were getting increasingly frantic with what was happening to them.

In my own constituency of Kerry, people are asking for answers. When will this all of this finally come to an end? How will the Government ensure that we are better prepared to withstand such storms in the future? What additional help or payments will be provided to homes that have had essential services cut off for weeks? In response, the Government has been silent. It declined to recall the Dáil, focusing instead on negotiating eye-watering salary top-ups for a record number of junior Ministers, an indictment of the shambolic response of this Government. I want to commend the extraordinary effort of ESB and Uisce Éireann workers who cleared roads, fixed lines and provided thousands of meals for vulnerable people. Many of them were out day and night over the past 11 days to ensure some type of normality for homes all over the country.

Serious issues remain because we cannot put a plaster over a gaping wound. The devastation of the storm has been compounded by historical failures of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to build an energy infrastructure which is fit for purpose. Power outages are not a rare occurrence in many areas, particularly in parts of Kerry. One resident in Brosna told me that they and their family experienced a staggering 20 power cuts last year. Others told me about relatives whose lives are regularly put at risk when life-saving medical equipment cannot be charged. Another family told me that they regularly resort to the use of outdated or possibly dangerous heating appliances because they have no other option. While the Government may accept this as normal, we do not. Unlike this Government, Sinn Féin has a plan to deliver an affordable, sustainable and secure energy system that is resilient to extreme weather events. We also want to distribute the burden of the maintenance fairly, for example through the restructuring of network charges and the PSO levy. In the immediate aftermath, Sinn Féin called on the Government to implement a number of measures including emergency accommodation, increased resourcing for local authorities as well as in respect of the issue of co-operation of forestry or plantation owners along maintenance corridors. It has to be said that some of the interactions between forestry owners and the ESB on maintenance corridors leaves a lot to be desired. Some owners of plantations point blank refused to allow access recently to ESB crews. These are people who have benefited from massive State grants and did not have to get planning permission for their plantations. Our recent proposals, however, were ignored. We also encouraged the Government to follow international best practice by introducing goodwill payments. As households pay for the grid through standing charges, it is only right that they should be compensated. Standing charges remain the exclusive domain of energy companies, despite our legislation to regulate them years ago. These same companies continue to make eye-watering profits, some of which recently were at windfall levels, but their communication with vulnerable people left a lot to be desired. Regulation could be one way to bring down energy prices, which remain some of the highest in Europe.

There are also broader structural issues which the Government must address. Investment must be made into Ireland's grid. As is reflected by Sinn Féin's proposal to establish a €2.5 billion investment fund, Ireland also needs to shore up its backup supply of generators. We should not be reliant on generators from other countries that take days to arrive. Household energy self-sufficiency should not be the exclusive remit of those with the greatest means. That is why we propose to overhaul the regressive solar PV scheme to be replaced with an income-based tiered grant scheme. A 5 kW battery alongside domestic solar panels can keep essential services running for up to 24 hours during a power outage. The solar revolution should be for everyone. We also have measures to develop long-duration energy storage to enable island communities to have a backup battery. These are some of the ways that this Government could be better prepared in the face of a changing climate. Instead of burying its head in the sand, I urge the Government to plan now for an electricity grid that is fit for purpose and resilient for our changed times.

Deputy Roderic O'Gorman

I would like to begin by recognising the dramatic impact on people's lives, the destruction of homes and property, the impact on businesses and indeed the loss of life that Storm Éowyn has caused. Storm Éowyn was an exceptional weather event, breaking all-time wind-speed records and causing unprecedented damage to our critical infrastructure and disruption for the second time in two months. I commend Met Éireann and the national emergency co-ordination group on their clear advance warnings, which undoubtedly saved lives. This shows that the State's crisis response system works and we must acknowledge that. Warnings, however, are only one part of the solution. As extreme weather events become more frequent and destructive due to climate change, we need to strengthen our emergency services and resource those who repair critical infrastructure to respond rapidly and effectively. The delays in restoring power, water and broadband, especially in the west, highlight the need for greater preparedness, planning and investment.

Climate action is not just about reducing emissions. It is also about adaptation, building resilient infrastructure that can withstand future storms. Better planning by local councils, the OPW and semi-States like Coillte can make a real difference. Continuing to retrofit and insulate buildings will make our homes more resilient during outages. We also need stronger community support systems. The community hub structure after Storm Éowyn was varied and inconsistent, though necessary. Other countries have provided temporary housing and compensation for those left without power, measures that we can and should consider if we want to protect those most vulnerable during events like this in the future. We will see more events like Éowyn. We need to be better prepared for their aftermath. The Government must set out what it has learned from this storm and how it will better serve communities the next time.

Deputy Charles Ward

Donegal continues to be devastated by Storm Éowyn. Thousands have been left without electricity and water over the last week, many of whom are elderly, vulnerable and living in defective concrete homes. Over the next few weeks, I want the Government and this Chamber to realise the devastation that has happened in Donegal. Affected homeowners face huge safety risks living in homes that are defective. The red wind warning came too late. The Government needs to address health and safety as soon as possible to treat this humanitarian crisis that is going on with defective concrete homes. There needs to be far more and far better co-ordination between the Government and Donegal County Council. It is clear that the west and north west were impacted most due to lack of resources and failure to prepare. Many services were also severely impacted. A Montessori school in Donegal was without power for over a week, which affected over 30 families who had no access to childcare. The parents were forced to take significant time off work. Some 12 days later, there are still premises in Donegal without electricity and without water. There is no doubt the impact of this storm will be felt for a very long time.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to Kacper Dudek's family, a young man killed tragically in Donegal, in Raphoe, through this storm. His loss will be felt in his local community of Lifford and across the whole county. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.

Deputy Brian Stanley

The effects of the storm in County Laois were severe, with hundreds of roads blocked and trees down. I acknowledge the work of the ESB staff, the outdoor staff of Laois County Council, the volunteers in Laois Civil Defence and all the others who played a role in dealing with the emergency situation. Lessons must be learned. The grid needs to be upgraded but some parties in this House are talking out of both sides of their mouth in this regard. On the one hand, they talk about upgrading the grid, yet they oppose the upgrading of main lines and action on lines that need to be replaced. They cannot have it both ways. We need backup generators in key facilities, including health centres, schools and other places, in order that we can continue to operate. When the storm has died down, we should be able to reopen these critically important facilities.

The ESB responded very well but it does not have the outdoor staff it had 30 or 40 years ago. The outdoor staff have been depleted and the ESB is dependent on contractors. Earlier today in the Chamber, I heard the Tánaiste listing all the countries from which we have brought in people to help us out. We used to have a bigger outdoor staff, which might have better catered to this emergency. With privatisation, we are relying on contractors, who will come if it suits them and will not come if it does not suit them. Councils have done great work. Laois County Council did great with 50 outdoor staff. There used to be multiples of that number of outdoor staff. Those staff have been depleted in county councils over the years, with work being farmed out to private contractors. Senior council staff tell me the Department will sanction clerical officers and all kinds of indoor staff and pen pushers but it will not sanction outdoor staff. I want the Minister of State to take that on board. This is the real problem. There is only a handful of outdoor staff in most of the municipal districts.

Building standards must be improved. We need to look at the roofs we are putting on houses. Some roofs blew off like pieces of paper. We will need more robust roofs and housing structures in the future. Compensation needs to be paid where homes are damaged.

Deputy Seamus Healy

I acknowledge and thank all the staff involved in dealing with the storm and its aftermath, including in county councils, the ESB, the Civil Defence, Irish Water, the Garda, fire brigades, ambulance services, mountain rescue, local committees meeting in community halls and sports centres, local shops and the many individuals who helped out. The State was clearly unprepared for the storm and particularly for its aftermath. We still have some 18,000 ESB customers without electricity. To deal with events like this in the future, we need a task force that includes all stakeholders. It must be set up immediately and must report urgently.

There are actions that need to be taken immediately in advance of any report. These include giving local authorities additional specified, ring-fenced and multi-annual grants to enable them to spring into action immediately in situations like this. They cannot be looking over their shoulders to see from where money can be found to deal with such situations. There needs to be automatic payment of compensation to families who are without services, particularly where they are without those services for quite some time. Generators must be provided to community halls, community hubs, sports centres and, in particular, water treatment plants. The Government must instruct the ESB to cover the cost of repair of the electricity infrastructure out of its profits. It is a hugely profitable company, with a €868 million profit in 2023. Consumers must not be made to foot the bill for that work.

Deputy Paul Murphy

It is a painful truth that we will be faced with more and more extreme weather events. We will have more storms, more flooding and possibly even more serious snow if we see the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, AMOC, including the Gulf Stream. We should resist those who would try to respond to these extreme weather events by driving us further into the arms of the fossil fuels that are responsible for the crises. We need to act on climate adaptation, a crucial part of which is electricity resilience. We must listen to and learn from the affected workers and communities, who know what their needs are, to begin to plan democratically for future disaster prevention and response.

A bottom-line point is that the State has a responsibility to provide reliable electricity for people. When that supply is not reliable, every household must be compensated, not only for the loss of power but also for the inconvenience and suffering they experience. A worker in my office who lives in south Dublin had no electricity for three days last year. She received a cheque for €240 in compensation from the ESB. There cannot be one law for people in Dublin and another for those in rural areas when it comes to compensation. The ESB is now threatening to increase prices for everyone to pay for the cost of the clean-up. This is the direct opposite of the direction in which we should be going. Instead, we need low-cost renewable electricity, free retrofitting and solar panels and batteries with no upfront costs, thereby giving people a secure renewable power source whenever the grid fails.

We also need to act to build the capacity of ESB Networks. I stood on picket lines four years ago with workers who warned me about the outsourcing that was going on and the loss of capacity. We must build up ESB Networks as a publicly owned and publicly run crucial public utility.

Deputy Ruth Coppinger

The compensation for the people who have been suffering for two weeks must come from the vast profits of the ESB, not from increased prices for customers, as has been talked about in the media. We need investment to ensure it does not happen again that people, in 2025, are waiting weeks upon weeks to have their power restored.

I raise the situation of schools. In many areas, children, particularly those with additional needs, have been suffering through not being able to attend school due to a lack of electricity and water. Every school should be issued with a generator to ensure this does not happen in future. I refer in particular to special needs students. I was alerted in my constituency to the situation of the Hope schools, to which the Department of Education sent a memo indicating they would not be compensated for the red alert days, meaning they had to tell students to come into school. Is there a difference between the safety needs of students with additional needs and other students? This is the message that was sent to those schools.

It is absolutely vital that the Government answers for what has happened. It must invest to ensure it does not happen again. Events like this storm are going to be a feature of life, notwithstanding the claims of climate deniers who have roles in the Government, particularly in the key Department of agriculture. This will keep happening. They can deny it all they like but the only people suffering will be ordinary people throughout the country, especially the people in rural areas they claim to represent.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Martin Heydon)

At this first opportunity since my elevation to the Cabinet, I thank everyone in the House for their good wishes. I look forward to working with everybody on all sides of both Houses of the Oireachtas to deliver for our crucial agriculture, marine, food and drink sector, which is so important to our overall economy.

The agriculture sector has been significantly impacted by Storm Éowyn due to prolonged power and water outages. The first priority was to support farmers in working to ensure we got their power and water restored. I have visited and spoken to many farmers who were directly impacted by the storm. Up in Leitrim last week, I saw at first hand the impact on dairy farmers and their livestock, in the calving season and beyond. It is a very difficult space to be in when one does not have water and power.

I take this opportunity to recognise the significant assistance farmers have provided in their local communities. Over and beyond looking after their stock and the challenges faced by them and their families, the farming community provided help within the wider local community at this busy time. They looked after neighbours, cleared roads where it was safe to do so and helped to restore access in more remote areas.

The severe storm has resulted in significant damage to protected structures, particularly in the horticulture sector, sheds on farms and extensive damage to trees both on farms and in forestry plantations.

I urge farmers to put their safety first. Given all of the challenges facing them when carrying out repairs and removing fallen trees in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, I ask them to properly assess the risks of the work they are undertaking and to keep themselves safe.

I am aware of the reports of significant damage in the horticulture sector. As I said, my officials are engaging with Teagasc and other stakeholders to assess the extent and significance of the damage caused. Teagasc has been in contact with commercial growers across multiple horticultural subsectors. In some cases, growers are still assessing the situation and are unable to provide data. Indeed, the extent of the data will only become clear when repairs commence and crops develop. Nevertheless, based on preliminary data, the damage is more pronounced for protected crops, in particular the mushroom sector. Damage to polytunnels has resulted in significant damage to or total loss of the plastic covering, as well as structural damage to some tunnels. Glasshouses have been impacted, with loss of panes of glass and structural damage to the house and fixed structures within the house. There has been some level of structural damage to mushroom tunnels, as well as to those structures with plastic coverings. In some cases, there have been varying levels of damage to crops and plants, with knock-on impacts on production schedules.

I am working with my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, horticulture and farm safety, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. He will meet representatives of horticultural subsectors at the horticulture industry forum next Tuesday, 11 February. This will provide an opportunity for growers to speak directly about the impact of the storm on their sector, as well as the wider sectoral issues and opportunities. I too have been engaging with a number of growers across the sectors. There has been extensive damage to trees on both farms and forestry plantations, as I said. In addition to the existing structures, the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and I have established a wind-blown forestry task force comprising stakeholders from across the sector. The task force, which met this week, will inform my Department on the wider sector's response to the storms, with particular emphasis on dealing with safety in large areas of forest that have been blown down and how we will tackle that.

My Department is working as part of the co-ordinated Government response through the National Emergency Co-ordination Group convened by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is the lead Government Department on severe weather incidents. The National Emergency Co-ordination Group continues to co-ordinate the intensive work across the whole of government to restore power, water, telecommunications and other services to homes, farms and businesses.

With regard to farm inspections, the Department is aware that some farms have sustained significant damage and we will take inspections on a case-by-case basis.

Deputy Cathal Crowe

I congratulate the Ministers of State, Deputy Martin Heydon and Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, on their appointments. Deputy O'Sullivan is a good friend of mine and while I am delighted to see both Ministers of State in their positions, I think Deputy O’Sullivan is going to do a particularly good job. People often get appointed to roles they have half an interest in, but anyone who knows Deputy O'Sullivan knows he has a colossal interest in the natural heritage of this country, particularly offshore habitats and onshore bird habitats. Best of luck to both of them.

While the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, is in the Chamber, I will deal with agricultural matters. It is important that we properly map out forestry in Ireland in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. I know there is a good database but during the time of the storm, with trees falling, there was confusion. For example, does a forestry plantation belong to Coillte, is it greenbelt or is it private forestry? Who owns it? It would be good if local authorities had an accessible database of forestry that defines the boundaries and ownership of all of those forestry plantations.

I welcome some of the commentary from the Minister of State with regard to the horticulture sector, in particular those who have polytunnels and those who grow products. Their infrastructure was devastated during the storm and they are going to need help. I farm myself. A few sheets of galvanised steel on our roof went a bit wobbly and we had to fix them, but that was minor stuff whereas some farm roofs were decimated. Beyond what is normally in TAMS and beyond normal investment or capital schemes, we need a scheme to help those farmers during the year. The horticulture sector, in particular in the case of polytunnels and similar structures, was decimated during the storm. The Department will have to step up in that regard.

I pay tribute to the ESB and Clare County Council, which were outstanding in my county. Day and night during this crisis, they worked to ensure that, as quickly as possible, communities could get power back and the community hubs were in place, and they have to be commended on that.

I know there is frustration and upset because many people waited more than a week to get power. This was an unprecedented storm, certainly unprecedented in the lifetimes of most of us. It is important that, retrospectively, we begin to call this a hurricane. I studied the wind speeds. The gust speeds recorded in Carna and parts of west Galway far exceeded anything in recent storms and they are classified as force three hurricanes in other jurisdictions. I believe we need to start calling Storm Éowyn a hurricane in the same context.

I wish to make some other points. We need to look at the importation of leylandii cypress trees. They are not native to this country, do not offer anything great in terms of habitat and are certainly wind traps when high-gust winds are passing through this country. Most of them fell during the storm. As a country, we need to look at whether it is right to import them. Most deciduous trees withstood the gusts but they did not.

The humanitarian assistance scheme needs to be broadened. Many businesses suffered a loss of income and I have helped many people in my constituency office in this regard. I believe the terms of the scheme could be broadened further to ensure businesspeople and farm owners are assisted. It is still unclear what status applies to someone who has lost food in their deep chest freezer, and whether that is covered. There is still some ambiguity in that regard.

I believe one of the things we will rue following this storm is that Uisce Éireann had to source generators to power some of the water treatment plants, water pump stations and sewerage treatment plants. There needs to be a national stock of generators that is more readily available to Uisce Éireann.

With regard to school closures, we need clarity from the Minister for Education as to whether schools will have to make up those days. I am a former schoolteacher, like Deputy John Connolly and others in the House. That certainty needs to be brought to this issue because the school calendar needs to be nailed down.

With regard to the undergrounding of cables, I heard an expert in this field say recently that it could cost 15 times more to underground them, but it should certainly be a condition of planning.

I am glad everyone was safe and I am grateful for my speaking time today.

Deputy Barry Ward

Is é seo an chéad deis a bhí agam labhairt sa Dáil ó tóghadh mé anuraidh. Gabhaim buíochas le muintir Dhún Laoghaire as ucht a muinín a chur ionam agus tugaim aitheantas do chabhair mo chlainne, go háirithe cabhair mo bhean chéile, Aoife, agus m'iníon, Robin, agus do chabhair mo chairde, mo chomhghleacaithe agus bhaill Fhine Gael i mBaile Átha Cliath. Ar an dea-uair, i nDún Laoghaire, d'éirigh linn éalú ó na héifeachtaí ba mheasa a bhí ag Stoirm Éowyn. Cé go raibh damáiste agus crainn a tháinig anuas le linn na stoirme, níor fhulaing muid ó na gearrthacha cumhachta a bhí le feiceáil ar fud na tíre. Cé go bhfuilim buíoch gur fheidhmigh an rabhadh dearg ó Mhet Éireann agus gur sábháladh daoine mar thoradh air sin, ní mór ceachtanna a bheith ann ó mhéid na stoirme agus ón éifeacht a bhí aici ar phobail i ngach áit in Éirinn.

What are those learnings to be? While I agree with many of the contributors that we must pay tribute to the workers from ESB, and to our European colleagues from France to Finland who came to Ireland to help those workers do the repairs that need to be done, we must also look at what we can do to insulate the country against future damage that might happen in these storms. We know these storms are coming and they will be more frequent and, hopefully not but possibly, more powerful as well.

In that regard, the location of electricity cables must be addressed. I certainly think we should be making a decision at this juncture that no new build or new development should come with overhead cables. Clearly, they are vulnerable to storms and we should always locate them underground. Retrofitting creates other problems. We should be reviewing whether it is possible, for example, to have much larger-scale undergrounding, if I can use that word, of major power cables, particularly the main lines, the interconnectors with Northern Ireland and, ultimately, the power that is going to come through the Celtic interconnector from France as well. I know that is an expensive project but we should certainly be carrying out a review to see if the investment in that kind of work is worth it from the point of view of insulating the country from what might happen in the future. That viability may well be part of the solution.

Equally, with regard to generators, it seems extraordinary that we would ever allow to reoccur that our water treatment and water pumping facilities are simply shut down because the power lines are not working. Every single one of them should have an individual emergency backup generator to make sure that, at the very minimum, households have water throughout the country. There is a job to be done to look at what we can do to make sure we are prepared for the next instance because we know it is coming.

Deputy John Connolly

Is trua í ar bealach gur faoin ábhar seo a bhfuil an chéad deis agam cúpla focal a rá sa Teach, ach sin mar atá sé. Is ábhar tábhachtach é do mhuintir mo Dháilcheantair. Fiú amháin é sin, níl a fhios agam an leor í an díospóireacht seo ach ceapaim go bhfuil gá le próiseas eile chun muid ar fad a shásamh go ndearnamar chuile rud a bhí deis againn a dhéanamh chun tionchar na stoirme a laghdú agus daoine a chabhrú.

While I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate, I am not wholly certain that it is a sufficient mechanism in terms of the requirement we have to review the preparation and response of the State to the impact and the effect of Storm Éowyn. I believe that a more forensic review is required of both the preparation and the response of the State and of all State agencies that hold some responsibility for such events. Everyone appears to accept that there are lessons to be learned. During the term of the last Dáil, there was a Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. I would expect a committee with a similar responsibility to be established in this Dáil term. I believe that committee should undertake a full review and appraisal of the State's preparation and response to Storm Éowyn to include extending invitations to all those State bodies and agencies that were involved in the preparation, response and remediation work.

Tá a fhios ag chuile dhuine sa tír gurbh ag Ceann Mhása i gConamara a bhí an taifead gála gaoithe is láidre sa stoirm seo. Ní rud annamh é sin. Everyone is aware that Mace Head in Carna recorded the highest gusts of wind and the highest sustained wind speed during the storm. However, this is not a unique occurrence. Of the five storms this country has suffered this winter, Mace Head has recorded the highest gust speed and highest sustained wind speed in three of them. Similarly, in 2024, Mace Head recorded 50% of the highest wind speeds recorded, and the other weather stations along the west coast recorded similarly. All the evidence points to one region of the country being at greater exposure and at greater risk to the impact of climate change. I look forward to the EPA concluding its national climate change risk assessment, expected to be finalised by the end of quarter 1 of 2025. This assessment aims to assist in climate change adaptation and mitigation. I am hopeful it will reflect on the areas of the country that are most susceptible to the most detrimental impacts of storms.

Of all the infrastructure that failed as a result of the storm, possibly the one that caused the greatest concern was the failure on behalf of some mobile phone customers to be able to contact emergency services. I contacted the Department of communications, which advised that the emergency call answering service operated by BT on behalf of the Minister remained fully functional during the storm and that the issue in regard to contacting the emergency services is to do with network coverage. If one's own subscriber is unavailable, then all other available networks can be fallen back on in order to facilitate emergency calls. This fallback facility is controlled by the subscriber's phone. We know that it failed. Of all the lessons we need to learn, we need to learn how to make sure we maintain such services in the event of power going at the masts.

If the lack of communication infrastructure caused concern, the impact of the storm that has caused greatest frustration, and indeed growing frustration, is the continued absence of power. The ESB reported that there were some 10,000 faults on its transmission network. Not surprisingly, as we heard already, most of the faults were suffered in the part of the country where the storm had its greatest impact. The absence of power has caused real hardship for people across the community.

Earlier, I remarked on the meteorological data that the State possesses on the region of the country that is most exposed to weather events. Applying appropriate mitigation and resilience measures to the electrical grid at this location should be prioritised. Over the course of the past fortnight, the ESB will have gathered significant data on the faults which occurred. As outlined earlier by many speakers, many of the faults were caused by the failure to adequately manage trees. In one conversation I was party to, one ESB operative indicated by his estimate that between 65% and 70% of faults were caused by the impact of trees that fell on transmission lines. From existing legislation, there appears to be no impediment to the ESB managing this better. Section 98 of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1927, as amended by section 45 of the Electricity Regulation Act, empowers the ESB to "cut any tree, shrub or hedge which obstructs or interferes with any electrical wires". I heard the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, discuss this earlier and look forward to greater measures to make sure they address this.

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness

Is mór an phribhléid í dom seasamh anseo mar ionadaí tofa do mhuintir Phort Láirge agus labhairt ar a son. Táim fíorbhuíoch de gach uile dhuine a thug tacaíocht dom san olltoghchán agus déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall gach uile lá chun freastal ar an dúshlán agus ar an bhfreagracht mhór a tugadh dom. Beidh mé buíoch i gcónaí de mo bhean chéile, mo pháistí, mo chlann agus mo chomrádaithe.

It is a great honour for me to speak here this evening for the first time as a Teachta Dála for Waterford. I want to thank my wife and children, my family, my supporters and my comrades in Sinn Féin for their support. I am deeply grateful to the people of Waterford for placing their trust in me in the election two months ago. I will work every single day to advance their interests and to fulfil the mandate they have given me. As a new TD and somebody who is raising a young family, my focus is very much on the future. However, I take great inspiration from my predecessors and heroes, two republican activists, Cathal Brugha and Caitlín Brugha, who served as Sinn Féin TDs for County Waterford a century ago.

A decade of neglect has left many of our public services under-resourced and on the back foot. This is particularly true of local authorities, which have yet to recover from the austerity measures that saw central government funding and staffing levels cut to the bone. The decisions of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in various configurations over recent years have left communities across Ireland extremely vulnerable to severe weather events. The neglect by the Government stands in stark contrast to the huge effort we see from council staff, emergency personnel, GPs and their surgeries, public health nurses, community pharmacists, postmasters and their staff, ESB personnel, Civil Defence, community volunteers, Defence Forces personnel, farmers and small local businesses. Time and again we see the value of their service and we owe them our thanks. Storm Éowyn and other recent storms, from Eunice, to Babet, Darragh and more have exposed the inadequate levels of funding in investment for essential public services and infrastructure. Lives and livelihoods are put at risk across Ireland due to the negligence and indifference of successive governments that have been unwilling to look beyond the Pale. Our councils are not adequately resourced. Every storm that comes our way, with increasing frequency and ferocity, exposes the shortcomings in infrastructure investment in our rural communities. The people I represent feel forgotten and left behind. Take the town of Tallow in my own constituency, where people whose homes and businesses were flooded during Storm Babet in 2023 have yet to see any movement from the OPW on works to prevent further occurrences.

Deputy David Cullinane

Hear, hear.

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness

One cannot imagine the anxiety they feel every time a storm is forecast, not knowing if the River Bride will burst its banks again and if their homes will be destroyed once more. Over a year on and they have received nothing from this Government - no delivery, no plan and not so much as a visit.

Is féidir Cé Heilbhic, cé iascaireachta i nGaeltacht na nDéise, a lua mar shampla eile. De dheasca gainimh agus siolta, ní féidir le báid iascaireachta nó an bád tarrthála imeacht nó filleadh ar an gcalafort. Tá saolta á gcur i mbaol de réir an easpa infheistíochta anseo. Cé Heilbhic, a fishing harbour in the west Waterford Gaeltacht, urgently requires the Government to fund dredging works as fishing boats and the local lifeboat are prevented from leaving or returning to port in low tides. Lives and livelihoods are being put at risk. This situation was well flagged with the previous Minister, and I implore the incoming Minister to take action before life is lost.

Lismore in County Waterford is yet another example of Government inaction and indifference. This is a heritage town in urgent need of a new water system. Homes, businesses and schools are frequently left without water with no notice. These outages last for days, disrupting businesses, causing schools to close and leading to very real hardship and distress for households, particularly those with medical needs, older people or people with disabilities. Works should have been carried out years ago to deliver a sustainable water supply in Lismore, but it is never too late to make a start. Let us end the neglect and instead invest in sustainable and safe communities that are equipped to withstand the challenges a changing climate and the Atlantic throw our way.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise a very pressing issue affecting a number of families in west Waterford. Twenty children have been left without a space for the coming academic year in our fantastic local special school, St. John's. Their families have been left reeling and uncertain how, where or if the right to education of their children will be vindicated. This lack of special school places did not happen overnight, but it has now reached crisis point. I ask the Minister of State to raise with his colleague, the Minister for Education, the urgent need to increase special school capacity in Dungarvan and west Waterford to ensure all children can access an education appropriate to their needs now and into the future.

Deputy David Cullinane

Hear, hear.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Deputy. We will now move to the Independent Technical Group. I call Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I want to wish you the best. I also wish the Minister of State the best.

On Thursday night and Friday morning of the week before last, devastation came upon a lot of families around the country, especially in the west, the north west and the midlands. While it was warned, some people were surprised by the devastation that happened. First, I compliment not the Government response but the community response from contractors and farmers who went out with their tractors and loaders the following morning. Over a two-day period, they cleared all the roads. In actual fact, in some areas councils were not out until 4 o'clock in the evening, which is regrettable, because local communities had done the work to shift trees out of the way. The devastation was huge - no water, no electricity and people cold in their houses. I compliment the ESB on the amount of work it has done. The sickening fact is that I talked to a contractor who was bringing poling lorries from England.

These lorries came to Holyhead but were not able to get on to the boat because the customs here were holding them up through paperwork. This is what Ireland did in an emergency. They had to drive from Liverpool to Scotland and they lost a day in doing their work. Someone somewhere should have written an order stating that, in an emergency, these lorries should be let through.

It was as if people around this country, and in the west of Ireland especially, did not exist. There was no communication, phones did not work, there was no broadband and everything was in total disarray. The sad part about it is that the likes of the Red Cross or the Army were not called out. The elderly were abandoned, as were people with underlying health problems. We had to get generators to get people up to hospital beds. That is the type of devastation there was. Young kids being brought home after being born and people with sleep apnoea were left high and dry, as were schools.

We have talked about water. Irish Water had no plan for this. It had no plan whatsoever with regard to generators. As for group water schemes, in all fairness I must compliment Mike Shield, as well as Karen from the group water federation, which started making contact and trying to get generators out. Design, build and operate, DBO, suppliers, such as Veolia Ireland, decided to sit on their hands for a few days until they were kicked around the place to try to get up and running. That should never be accepted. If we learn one thing, it is the common denominator that has caused this problem. Yes, everyone knows it was a storm. Yes, everyone knows it was one of the worst we have ever had. What was the big problem? Throughout this country, one can see the corridors that have been left in forests. Forests have caused huge problems right around this country. The corridors are not 35 m on each side and the trees have taken down the main three-phase lines. Throughout the countryside, trees everywhere have knocked down wires but, on top of that, they have devastated broadband services. We have spent a great deal of money on broadband right around this country. The trees have devastated and made bits of the NBI broadband system.

As for the likes of Eir, some factories might have more people working in them than that company has today. It is hard to get Eir to fix a phone, never mind getting it to start putting this together. It needs to do this fairly rapidly, and I think the Government needs to make it do it.

Farmers were left without water but there are things we need to do. We need regulation on trees. In the line of farmers, we need to ensure funding is provided to replace sheds that were taken away. Sheds just disappeared in some places. The horticultural sector was affected as well. We do not need task forces and reviews. Farmers, communities, Tidy Towns committees that will collect debris, councils, communities and people who had to pay extra money for food need pounds, shillings and pence, They do not need a review or task force or something down the road. This work has to start now. There are cattle in sheds that do not have a roof over their heads. There are cows which will be calving soon where the cowshed is gone. This is where we need action. There is a generator grant through the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, but it needs to be for the normal generator. We need to get water infrastructure, schools, crèches and all of that covered to ensure we have backup.

Inspections in the agricultural sector should be suspended for one month, rather than being given a promise that the inspectors will go easy. As for the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, where fences to neighbouring farms have been brought down, inspections under the scheme should be abandoned for the next three months. If we do not do that, we will kick the people who have suffered torture.

In forestry, corridors need to be provided. Forests planted 20, ten or five years ago were have been destroyed. The windblow is unbelievable right throughout forestry. It is estimated that 40% of forestry in this country is in trouble.

What are we going to do? We are going to get Teagasc and a few others to meet up, have a bit of a chat and a cup of tea and we will talk about it next week or the week after. This is about money. This is about people who could not cook in their houses and had to buy meals out. They had to rent accommodation. They have paid out the money. I welcome what the Minister, Deputy Calleary, did in respect of providing support to stay in hotels but that should have been done the first day. People needed to know. There are huge question marks. Elderly people who have trees in their gardens do not know if they will get funding from the humanitarian fund. The one thing we need to do is to provide a huge amount of funding for councils to try to undo the hanging branches and what is going on around them.

Deputy Richard O'Donoghue

We are talking about the storm but in Limerick we had two storms. First we had the storm that led to snowfall. Met Éireann did not put out a red weather warning for Munster for that storm. We had up to three feet of snow in an area stretching from Kerry all the way back down to Limerick, as well as in other parts of Munster. There was no red warning for that storm. The following week, Met Éireann was able to put up a freezing fog warning in Dublin but we had no red warning for Munster. There were people trapped in their houses for three, four or five days. There was no power or heating in their houses and they could not light a fire because there are no chimneys in these houses as a result of the new planning regulations.

In our community, we had the tragic death of Joe Noonan, God rest his soul. There would have been more deaths if it were not for the efforts of the local people, backed up by the county council, gardaí who had to borrow a Jeep from another county in order to assist, the search and rescue services, the Civil Defence and the Red Cross. The Red Cross had to borrow vehicles from other counties to provide meals for people. It showed the lack of resources these people have. Can one imagine that the gardaí had to borrow a Jeep from another area to come out and do a search and rescue? Can one imagine that? Farmers and other people who had access to tractors, Jeeps, quads, and whatever they could come up with went out and helped the people. The Government is subsidising places but it is not subsidising enough.

After the damage done by the snow, we then had the storm which actually wrecked places. I went out with a crew to lift the roof of a stand in Kilmallock off a person's house. We had to assist there. It was the people in the communities who went out to help. The Government left them high and dry. From the point of view of social media and the Government, they were left high and dry. Local communities and the likes of the Civil Defence, the Red Cross, search and rescue teams and An Garda went out to help but they were missing the funding needed to ensure they could save lives. That is a disappointment but we can learn from this. People provided generators and heating for homes. They opened up their businesses, got them running and brought locals in from around the area, gave them soup and sandwiches and kept them warm in a warm place because they had no heating in their own houses. That is what our local people did when the Government let us down.

Deputy Paul Lawless

The level of frustration in Mayo and right across the west is really palpable. Many thousands of people in Mayo are still without power. That is 13 days without being able to heat their homes or cook for themselves. What has happened in recent days has been really shocking. Elderly people are shivering in their beds. Sick and isolated people in rural areas are unable to contact their GP. Today, elderly people and people in isolated areas are still unable to make contact with emergency services and their GP, yet this Government moves more quickly to go on holidays in the eye of the storm than to get into action to help our citizens in their greatest period of need.

Hotels and other accommodation should been offered immediately to the most vulnerable people in the west. We can offer accommodation to people seeking international protection for years, yet we cannot do it for our most vulnerable people. These are people with respiratory or heart conditions, for example, who rely on plug-in devices to survive. These are the vulnerable customers of the ESB.

What priority was given to these vulnerable customers? All I could see was nothing. No help was given to those people. I call on the Government to immediately initiate a task force to understand the lessons and what we need to do. We need to get ESB, Uisce Éireann, Coillte and Eir in a room and get proactive in solving this. The ESB network, the Eir network and the NBI network need to be protected. Existing trees along the route need to be cleared immediately. We do not have time to wait for months for felling licences. We need to prepare now for the next storm. Ash dieback is another big issue. We need a scheme similar to the local improvement schemes to work with farmers to address ash dieback.

Generators in water treatment plants must become a mandatory part of Uisce Éireann's machinery. We also need generators for private dwellings. Government policy has incentivised and in some cases forced people into chimneyless homes and we also need to protect those people and give them a backup.

Minister for Health (Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill)

I thank Deputies for coming and raising the different issues today. I congratulate Deputy Lawless on his election by the good people of Mayo. I was in Mayo yesterday. I pay particular tribute to Peter Healy, the facilities manager of Mayo University Hospital and Patricia Hough, the on-duty manager, who did extraordinary work along with all the staff at Mayo University Hospital to make sure that the staff were in in advance, in anticipation of the storm, ready for the next shift. They did extraordinary work in terms of facilities.

I also acknowledge some of the difficulties that we will need to fix for the future. Mayo University Hospital, by way of example, had a significant investment in its generators in 2023. That gave the staff there in recent days and particularly during that storm period real confidence that not just were its generators up to date, but they were well fuelled. It is of the most basic importance. However, as the Deputy said, the difficulty, of course, was that Uisce Éireann did not have the generators, leading to the threat of a water shortage to a hospital. While it did not happen, I am highlighting it as a risk that has to be fixed for the future. We need to acknowledge that this part went well and while something bad did not happen on the second part, it could have happened and we have to fix that for the future.

As the Deputy has just raised the issue of Mayo, I want to pay tribute to the staff there. On the night before the storm, the evening I was appointed as Minister for Health, I went directly from the Áras to Crumlin children's hospital where again the staff were preparing for the storm. Many staff were coming in and sleeping overnight in anticipation of being there for the shift at 7 a.m. They were getting takeaways, putting down mattresses and making sure everybody was there. I pay tribute to the 400 staff in Cork University Hospital and the 200 on site in the Mercy University Hospital. This was replicated across the country.

The overall health response and preparation were about ensuring three things in particular: the provision of services in acute hospitals in terms of staff and generators; making sure that those who live in HSE residential care facilities were protected and looked after; and, as many Deputies have highlighted, ensuring people in their homes continued to receive a range of different HSE supports, such as home help and support with medical devices in the home, which are so important. The focus was on making sure those people were looked after and protected.

There were successes and failures. The power went out in Limerick and Letterkenny, but the generators kicked in. Deputies may imagine that one of the first questions that I will be asking in terms of our resilience planning for the next event - we have to acknowledge that with climate change there will be a next event of some kind - is: what is the up-to-date situation with generators across the hospitals? We did not have a problem on this occasion, but let us check and double-check. The same applies with Uisce Éireann and our residential care facilities.

There were a number of pieces of important preparation. We needed to secure construction sites at hospitals and other facilities, for example in Limerick where we are building a very significant new facility, as the Deputy will know, and make sure they were okay. We had preparation for vaccines, for example, where there is a chain of cold storage that must be protected and respected. Work was done with GPs in advance of the storm, anticipating power outages, to secure as many of those vaccines as possible. Could we do it better next time? Yes, absolutely I think we can. Those are the sorts of questions that I will be drilling in as the new Minister for Health to make sure that we are building further resilience in the health system in anticipation of major events such as that.

I also pay tribute, by way of example, to the staff in the Sacred Heart centre in Castlebar in Deputy Lawless's constituency, who spent considerable time making sure that the fuel for generators was topped up throughout the community. I use these specific examples to describe the breadth of work done by hard-working individuals in our healthcare system, from consultants and nurses turning up the night before, to facility managers and on-call managers trying to secure accommodation, not just for hospital staff but also for people presenting to emergency departments not just now, but in anticipation of events or in anticipation of a concern. I recognise the extraordinary work they have done.

More than anybody else, there is a significant impact on a group of vulnerable people, as the Deputy correctly identified, who are in their homes and remain without power. There has been good work done by the HSE in going to those homes and identifying vulnerable people. That list changes by the way; a vulnerable person or an older person may be on a list as for a considerable period, or someone may have had an operation and is vulnerable for a shorter period. One of the things I will be checking is how that list is managed over time and how that correlates with the lists the Garda and the ESB have.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

I add my voice of recognition and congratulation on the amazing work that has been done by so many people in responding to what has been a one-in-a-hundred-year event. In the first instance I want to recognise the staff of the ESB and the local authorities and the tremendous amount of voluntary effort that was put in. However, I throw in a word of caution to those seeking to jump on the bandwagon and trying to blame all of this on politicians and on the Government. There are 15 members of the Government. While there are those who are suggesting it is all their fault, quite a lot of people do not buy that game, quite frankly. It is a populist and popular thing to attack the Government but there are many people working behind the scenes in government.

They are voters, too, by the way. They are in the local authorities and the ESB. They and their families see it as an attack on them. Let us be cautious and careful here. Let us recognise that we need to take a lot of learnings and have a lot of work to do to be better prepared in the future. That is not all down to a Minister, or two or three Ministers; it is down to many people. The people I have spoken about are angry and upset. They do not necessarily blame the Minister. They might say that to the Deputy opposite; that is a matter between him and them. They want the country to be better prepared and in a stronger position to address the crisis. We need to ensure that those hubs are better in place. It is an attack on the CEO of the local authority when the Deputy suggests that they are not in place. The funding is always there. With respect, the Deputy knows full well money is not an issue at the minute. It might be to the Deputy, but not to the local authorities.

I visited locations the other day and met with staff in a local authority. They are not telling me that they did not respond because there was a shortage of money, quite frankly. They are working now to address this. There are issues about the clearing of ESB lines and of course we have to engage and interact with Coillte, but not just Coillte. I have heard Deputies jump on Coillte because that is an easy one. However, we should not forget that there are many private landholders who are responsible for forests. If they are suggesting that the responsibility lies on the owners of forests, they are putting a burden on small farmers who have small plantations and cannot afford it. A word of caution in their effort to blame the Government for everything: just be a bit more careful.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Who is he talking about?

Deputy Timmy Dooley

I have seen it on social media. I have seen the attacks as if it is just a Government problem.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Does the Deputy not know there was a contract between the ESB and farmers?

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputies, please let the Member finish.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

A distance of 20 m was fixed in the document.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

I support what the previous-----

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Obviously, he does not know.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputies had their say. Please-----

Deputy Timmy Dooley

Sometimes the truth when it is explained-----

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

That is the truth.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

-----becomes difficult for the Deputy to explain, which is fine.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Is the Deputy saying there is no contract between the ESB and the farmers?

Deputy Timmy Dooley

Deputy Paul Lawless spoke about the need to have better planning for hubs in place. I know and Deputy O'Donoghue knows there were lots of generators in the mid-west and they were rolled out to homes that needed them - where there were vulnerable patients and they were needed for the purpose of electrical equipment.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Where? In the west of Ireland-----

Deputy Timmy Dooley

Quite frankly, I heard nobody thank anybody for that. I have seen a couple of politicians run around with one or two generators and they thought they had solved the crisis for everybody.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

You are not writing much.

An Ceann Comhairle

With respect.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

Deputy Fitzmaurice's colleague indicated from Brussels that had there been 12 or 13 generators here a day earlier, the storm could be averted.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

I addressed it. It is not about that.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

That is the kind of stuff that goes on.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

You denied the letter. That is the problem.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

I am here to work with others on what has been learned out of this, how we ensure that there is not a continuous situation where trees that can damage power lines are left in place and how we can better respond to the needs of people in terms of getting power back to them more quickly, and ensuring there are generators at all the Irish Water sites so that clean water is pumped to the sites. Those are all important.

As the Taoiseach said earlier today, there was one life lost. That is one too many. This could have been catastrophic. It was not catastrophic because of the planning that was done and the direction that was given from central government in terms of recognising the state of the problem.

I would like to think we could have a debate in a couple of weeks' time, when the Deputy will not be playing to the local media agenda or the deadlines of local newspapers. Maybe it could be done at committee, where we can be more reflective in putting in place a plan that will work. On those issues that the Deputy has identified and learned, let the Deputy be part of that too.

Deputy Thomas Gould

First of all, I thank the people of Cork North-Central for re-electing me. I am proud to be back here for a second time as a TD. I am really proud of my family, my friends and everyone who got behind me. I will work for all the constituents of Cork North-Central and of this State because we have a big job of work to do. This storm and the previous storms have highlighted the job of work that we need.

I also thank sincerely all those front-line responders - the staff of ESB, Irish Water, An Garda and local authorities - right across the board and the volunteers who came out. They have done magnificent work with one hand tied behind their back because of ESB and Irish Water and the Government's inability to plan, fund and resource these organisations. For example, the ESB made €500 million in the first six months of 2024. It will be close to €1 billion in profits when the figures are out. At the same time, it has neither maintained nor put in place structures and planning to ensure that when these storms happen there are not 13 days without power - some families will go without for longer. It is two weeks without power, in this day and age.

At the same time, we are told there is no compensation scheme for those without power. The ESB - the neck of them - is warning there could be increasing charges because of the cost of the fallout of the storm. This is from a company that is charging Irish people some of the highest electricity prices in Europe, and now it wants to put them up again. Is the Government asleep at the wheel? Fine Gael has been in government for 14 years and Fianna Fáil has been with them for ten. Not only is the Government allowing the ESB to do this, it is also allowing the ESB to do privatisation, with a reduction in the number of workers, the bringing in of more contractors and work being subbed out. Then we want to know why half the poles are down and half the country is without electricity. It is because the Government is more interested in profit and privatisation than in looking after people. There are serious questions to be answered here.

I wish all the Ministers the best in their new portfolios. The Minister for Health spoke about hospitals and our readiness and generators. To let the Minister know about hospitals, in Cork today people are told to stay away from the CUH and the Mercy Hospital accident and emergency departments because there are 69 people on trolleys in CUH and 14 in the Mercy Hospital. They are told not to go there as they are full, and we are talking about contingency plans. Thank God things were not as bad in Cork as they were in the rest of the country because we had nowhere for them to go for them. For the information of the Minister, we have a SouthDoc in Blackpool. We have the HSE telling people in Cork to go to SouthDoc and SouthDoc in Blackpool is closed. There are two SouthDocs in the city: one on Kinsale Road and one in Blackpool. The Government has closed SouthDoc in Blackpool and the Minister is coming in here now to talk about our readiness, from a hospital and health service point of view. Where are people to go? The accident and emergency departments are full. These are the facts.

Then we discuss Irish Water not having generators ready in water treatment plants. As a person who represents Cork North-Central, I can tell the Minister we have had a lack of clean water for two years. We have a situation now where a company that made €300 million in 2023 - it is making hundreds of millions of euro in profit - cannot deliver water to the people. You are in charge. What are you doing?

I listened to Deputy Dooley say that we should not blame everyone. There was a Government backbencher in here a while ago giving out that local authorities are not working together and local authorities are not doing more. The Government privatised local authorities. The Government stripped local authorities when the austerity years came in and those workers still have not been replaced. Government Deputies are coming in here saying that we should not blame the Government for that. They are in power. Who are we to blame? The buck stops with the Government. If they cannot do the job, they should get out of the way and let someone else in.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputies, please. We move now to the non-party and non-groupings, starting with Deputy Heneghan.

Deputy Barry Heneghan

A Cheann Comhairle, colleagues and, more importantly, the people of Dublin Bay North, it is with great humility and deep gratitude that I rise to address this Chamber for the first time. Gabhaim buíochas le gach daoine. Is mór an onóír dom a bheith anseo. I thank my constituents, my family and my kitchen cabinet, Finian McGrath and Damian O'Farrell, for placing their faith in me, for believing in the vision I put forward and for giving me this opportunity to serve them. I am here for delivery. and every decision I make, every question I raise and every battle I fight, will have that in mind.

My thoughts are with the people still without power. I thank ESB dearly for the response to the issues I raised in my constituency in Artane and I thank every single worker who addressed them, but Storm Éowyn has shown us something fundamentally. The energy grid is outdated, overstretched and unfit for purpose. Let us talk facts. I am delighted to see the steps to legalise private wires in the programme for Government. There are gigawatts of renewable projects waiting for a connection. ESB Networks simply cannot handle this backlog with the current infrastructure and every delay is costing the economy billions of euro in lost potential. Private wire connections will provide a key solution to this. For example, a farmer could supply local businesses with solar power or businesses could use combined heat and power, CHP, units to share their energy. These are practical, achievable solutions. If we have energy, we can do this, but right now we are blocking this efficiency. Currently, building regulations mandate separate metering for each apartment block, making shared rooftop incredibly difficult. This is not only an energy issue; this is a housing and cost-of-living issue. We need a modern decentralised grid, similar to Denmark, and we need regulatory reform that embraces this innovation. Every day we delay, we leave families in the dark, communities without power and a cleaner cheaper energy future slipping through our fingers. Unlike the past dealings of our fossil fuel, we should grab our renewable energy potential and benefit the Irish people.

I told Dublin Bay North I would fight for results agus níl sé seo ach an tús.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

I, too, thank and praise the emergency workers, from all over the country and from overseas and Northern Ireland, but especially from the ESB. Those in the ESB always do their best in all kinds of trying situations.

We will have to seriously examine this. I have spoken to the Taoiseach about it, regarding having hubs set up. Most villages have a GAA hall, a community hall or rudaí mar sin. Many of them now have, as the House will be aware, spaces for working from local hubs and everything else. We will have to equip these people or give them grants to purchase generators because one central hub could look after half the parish as regards charging phones, showers and such practical issues. Ní neart go cur le chéile is a great phrase, and at the centre, the meitheal. We need that kind of approach, a meitheal approach, where people will support each other.

The farmers of Ireland came out and showed that they care for the communities and they helped everybody in clearing trees and everything else. It was horrible work. Too much health and safety went out the window. They had to be careful - an-chúramach - with fallen wires and things like that. They are careful. Many of them are experienced in dealing with all kinds of situations and they took care. They made sure roads were opened and people could get out and get in. I really do sympathise and empathise with the people in very remote areas who are still waiting to get power back. Years ago, anywhere ESB lines went through forests, there was a clear-fell pathway. I had one in my own area when the ESB installed in the 1990s for a cousin of mine. There was a whole chamber cleared away. These areas must be maintained and we must ensure trees along the roadside also must be removed. A tree fell on me one time when I was a buachaill óg with my late mum and my brother. It was an awful experience. It was a summer's day. Any trees that are overhanging should be cut back.

Deputy Carol Nolan

I am glad to get the opportunity to speak on this matter. I will start by commending the workers in local authorities and the ESB workers. I pay particular tribute to those workers who were out in dire conditions and who certainly are still doing their level best to get power restored to all areas of the State.

It was concerning, however, to see a lack of planning, particularly concerning people with medical conditions. I was contacted by the families of many people with special needs and pensioners who were on oxygen. There was concern over having no power and that the oxygen units were going to run out. We need to plan for this and we need to make sure we have support systems backed up should such a situation ever arise again. We saw communities pulling together and community centres using their resources and facilities. This was certainly very welcome and a very pragmatic and generous gesture. We saw the farming community again stepping up to the mark and helping throughout the country. This was very welcome. There were lots of supports and positives.

I want to raise serious concerns, however. We have a semi-State company called Eir and I am just baffled and dumbfounded by its lack of efficiency, the lack of professionalism, and indeed the lack of response to urgent situations. I have contacted it about a pensioner living in a very remote area who depends on the phone line and on an alarm system, and still there has been no follow-up. A couple of weeks now after the storm and there has been no follow-up whatsoever. I have first-hand experience of Eir as my constituency office still has no phone line despite the company being contacted a number of times. I call on the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, to intervene with Eir and to ensure we get a more efficient response so that people who are vulnerable, like pensioners living in remote areas, get a response.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

I thank the people of Kerry for sending me up here again for a third time. I thank each and every one of them. They all know who we are, my family and all the people who work for me. I thank them all so much for depending on me and sending me up here again to talk for the people of Kerry and to represent Kerry, and I thank them for electing Michael, my brother.

A Chathaoirligh, do not tell them I am here at all. There are a lot of people trying to stop me talking. Do not let on that I am here at all but I will stay here as long as the people of Kerry want me to stay, and not the begrudgers who do not want to allow me to talk.

First of all, I congratulate the new Government and I wish it well. We are talking about the storm. I have a lot more to say in thanking the people of Kerry but we are talking about the storm and the snow because the two things are combined in that the same thing happened both times in that the electricity went out. Basically, it is caused by trees falling on lines. We have seen the sad episode where a tree fell on a young man going home from work in Donegal. It would have been the same whether it had been in Kerry or outside of our door. He was one of our own and he was killed by a falling tree. There should be no tree within falling distance of the road or the lines - full stop. That is the lesson we have learned. I am not blaming for what has not been done up to now but I am asking for it to be corrected now, and I am depending that it will be done, whoever has responsibility for it. Maybe it is my brother. I will be asking him and all in the Government to ensure recognition is given to the fact that trees are falling down on the top of people.

I thank the people who did so much: the local authorities, the ESB, and especially those who went out to those with autistic children and got it going for them. I include Eir, the fire squad, the mountain rescue team that rescued the families in Cordal. There were three places badly affected in Cordal, Brosna, Scartaglin and Gneevgullia.

I do not want this happening anymore on our watch. This will have to stop and the lines will have to be upgraded. I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. We have to thank the farming community, all of them, and then the Kelly brothers, like other contractors, who cleared the roads-----

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú)

Déanfaidh sin cúis.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

-----up at Cordal and called on all those places. They were still there inside-----

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú)

Deputy Healy-Rae, we have to bring this to a conclusion.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh, but my time was eaten into-----

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú)

I gave you the full two minutes. I only hit the bell when your time was up. You had the full time. You took plenty extra.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

All right. Thanks very much.