I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding the response to Storm Éowyn. On Tuesday, 11 February 2025, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 85(2), that division must be taken now.
Response to Storm Éowyn: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh on Tuesday, 11 February 2025:
That Dáil Éireann:
- commends the voluntary and community efforts of everyone who stepped up to assist individuals, families, communities, businesses, sporting groups and voluntary organisations following the havoc caused by Storm Éowyn;
- recognises the vital communication role played by local, community and regional radio stations;
- recognises the outstanding workers from local authorities, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), Úisce Éireann and phone companies who have been out day and night in miserable and dangerous conditions to restore essential services;
- applauds the communities that have stood together, amid the most difficult circumstances, who rallied together by opening their homes, community facilities and ensured help was provided;
- acknowledges the difficulties businesses, community and sporting groups continue to face, including significant financial hardship and the prospect of permanent closure;
notes:
— the lack of an effective co-ordinated emergency plan to deal with the aftermath of Storm Éowyn;
— the delayed response of Government to quickly intervene, and the failure to provide any supports to local businesses, sports and community groups left devastated by the storm;
— the fact that many businesses, schools, and homes remained without power for unacceptable lengths of time;
— the failure of ESB Networks to forward plan by undertaking action to improve their response to unplanned power outages as has been repeatedly directed by the energy regulator since 2021;
— the record-breaking profits that electricity generating companies have made in recent years which they have been allowed to keep in full, combined with ESB's refusal to make appropriate use of their €898 million profit last year in response to this national crisis as well as their public comments that the costs of repairing the electricity network may be borne by customers through increased electricity bills; and
— Úisce Eireann's lack of forward planning that left key water infrastructure without back-up generation capacity in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn; and
calls on the Government to:
— provide an adequate level of Government funding to aid and assist businesses, community groups, voluntary organisations and sporting clubs that have been damaged by the storm;
— bring forward the reinstatement of a 9 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) rate for the hospitality sector;
— ensure that the ESB provide a goodwill payment to customers determined by the length of time they were without power, and that they suspend the Public Service Obligation levy and standing charges for those without power for that period; and
— expand the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme to include businesses, sporting clubs, voluntary organisations and community groups who have been impacted by the storm as it was after Storm Babet.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all the words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"commends the rapid response by local authorities, Electricity Supply Board (ESB) Networks, Uisce Éireann, Community Welfare Officers and others, following Storm Éowyn; and this response, supported by the Defence Forces, Government agencies, Civil Defence and the Voluntary Emergency Services, working with community volunteers, non-governmental organisations and community organisations, is an example of the collaborative approach we have in place to ensure a rapid response during such events;
acknowledges and appreciates the solidarity shown by our European Union neighbours in the activation of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and subsequent donations of generators to provide additional power and resilience to assist restoration across key sectors;
extends sincere thanks to crews from Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK), Austria, Finland, Germany, Scotland, France and Norway who came to the aid of our ESB crews to support the recovery effort, and to those ESB crews and skilled ESB retirees who deployed to the most impacted areas in response to the damage caused by Storm Éowyn;
commends all voluntary and community initiatives supporting individuals, families, communities and businesses through this exceptional and difficult time;
recognises the contribution of the media, both local and national, in providing effective safety messaging and information to the public prior to, during and after Storm Éowyn; and
notes that:
— Storm Éowyn was named, by the UK Met Office on Tuesday, 21st January, 2025, the fifth named storm of the 2024-2025 windstorm season; widespread Red and Orange weather warnings were issued across Ireland and the UK ahead of the rapidly strengthening storm; Ireland experienced gale/storm force winds, including severe damaging and destructive gusts of over 183 kilometres per hour, a record for Ireland; and this unprecedented storm caused extensive damage and destruction to critical infrastructure, communications and broadband infrastructure;
— an Emergency Management system, developed in accordance with the principles of good international Emergency Management practice, and which successfully co-ordinates a 'whole of Government' approach at both national and local level, has been developed and utilised in Ireland over the past decade;
— this Emergency Management system has been used successfully to manage several extreme weather events, including Ophelia on 16th October, 2017 and Snow/Storm Emma from 27th February to 4th March, 2018, in line with the Strategic Emergency Management Framework (2017) published by the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence and has fostered:
— co-ordinated leadership in the face of extreme and difficult conditions;
— rapid identification of key issues and the support necessary to ensure an effective response; and
— whole of Government co-ordination supporting all local authorities who lead in the response to severe weather events;
— the National Emergency Co-ordination Group was in session daily from when it was first convened on Wednesday, 22nd January, 2025 until Monday, 10th February, 2025, with a dedicated team from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Lead Government Department responsible for co-ordinating the response to severe weather events across the whole of Government, local authorities, agencies, utilities and the voluntary sector; the co-ordinating role is essential to ensure full situational awareness, effective communication, cross sectoral collaboration and prioritisation of resources as the response transitions to the restoration phase; and this co-ordinated approach to handling emergencies and their aftermath is activated frequently in response to Atlantic winter storms;
— in accordance with the established interdepartmental arrangements under the Strategic Emergency Management Framework, the final phase of recovery and restoration is being led by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications; and a cross-departmental recovery group has been established and it will continue to co-ordinate intensive efforts to restore power, telecommunications and broadband connectivity to those who continue to experience outages;
— specific energy-related actions have been prioritised to be delivered once the initial storm response has been completed:
— an enhanced Winter 2025 Grid Resilience Plan;
— a full review by ESB Networks and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) of the planned grid enhancement and priorities within the next five-year price review process; and
— a final decision on the CRU's Strategic Workforce Plan 2025-2027 to be taken by end of the first quarter of 2025;
— the Government approved €4 billion investment in the onshore electricity grid for 2021-2025; a baseline investment of €10.1 billion for 2026-2030 has been sought by ESB Networks in the onshore grid, with scope to rise to €13.4 billion; a final decision on this is expected from the CRU in the third quarter of 2025; and this includes increased spending on asset management, underground cables and replacement of aging overhead lines and poles and ESB Networks plans to massively scale up its timber-cutting programme;
— Uisce Éireann is committed to protecting and future-proofing Ireland's water infrastructure; the impact of incidents such as Storm Éowyn are actively reviewed and lessons taken from them to ensure they can increase resilience; and as part of this review, Uisce Éireann will examine requirements for additional generators and alternative power solutions (solar, turbines and battery storage) and will continue to work with all the relevant Government Departments and State agencies to ensure enhanced levels of readiness for extreme weather events in future;
— the Government continues to support those individuals and families severely impacted, including through the Department of Social Protection's Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, and the Programme for Government 2025 - Securing Ireland's Future includes a commitment to develop an Extreme Weather Event Assistance Scheme for homes and community organisations, farmers and businesses which will be brought forward as a matter of priority;
— it is recognised that the challenges, the scale and severity of Storm Éowyn were unprecedented, with sustained hurricane force winds recorded along the western seaboard; and the Government's response was timely, given the circumstances, and every effort was made to minimise disruption to all those affected to the greatest degree possible; and
— as is the case with all severe storms, following the conclusion of the response, all aspects of the State's response will be fully reviewed, with a view to identifying the key lessons across all sectors and the implementation of recommendations; and this will include a continuing focus on planning for such events, business continuity management and building resilience and readiness across all sectors."
- (Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 90; Níl, 74; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Aird, William.
- Ardagh, Catherine.
- Boland, Grace.
- Brabazon, Tom.
- Brennan, Brian.
- Brennan, Shay.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Butterly, Paula.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Malcolm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Michael.
- Callaghan, Catherine.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carrigy, Micheál.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
- Clendennen, John.
- Collins, Niall.
- Connolly, John.
- Cooney, Joe.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Cummins, John.
- Currie, Emer.
- Daly, Martin.
- Dempsey, Aisling.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Dooley, Timmy.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
- Geoghegan, James.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Harris, Simon.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Heneghan, Barry.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Keogh, Keira.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Martin, Micheál.
- Maxwell, David.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McCarthy, Noel.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McCormack, Tony.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Séamus.
- McGreehan, Erin.
- Moran, Kevin Boxer.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Moynihan, Shane.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Murphy, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Neville, Joe.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connell, Maeve.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Meara, Ryan.
- O'Shea, John Paul.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Muirí, Naoise.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Roche, Peter.
- Scanlon, Eamon.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Timmins, Edward.
- Toole, Gillian.
- Troy, Robert.
- Ward, Barry.
Níl
- Ahern, Ciarán.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Bennett, Cathy.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Byrne, Joanna.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Connolly, Catherine.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Coppinger, Ruth.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Cummins, Jen.
- Daly, Pa.
- Devine, Máire.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrelly, Aidan.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gibney, Sinéad.
- Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
- Graves, Ann.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Hayes, Eoin.
- Healy, Seamus.
- Hearne, Rory.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Eoghan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lawless, Paul.
- Lawlor, George.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGettigan, Donna.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
- Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
- O'Donoghue, Robert.
- O'Flynn, Ken.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Hara, Louis.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
- Quaide, Liam.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Rice, Pádraig.
- Sheehan, Conor.
- Sherlock, Marie.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Wall, Mark.
- Ward, Charles.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, put and declared carried.