I welcome the Minister, Deputy Browne, to the Chamber.
Response to Storm Éowyn: Statements
I very much welcome the opportunity to speak to the Seanad on the response to Storm Éowyn. It allows me to bring some clarity to the co-ordinated response led by my Department.
First, I will clarify the role of my Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is the lead Government Department for the response to severe weather events. This means it is responsible for the co-ordination of the response to events such as Storm Éowyn 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 to these events transitions from the response phase to recovery phase. This co-ordinated approach to handling emergencies and their aftermath is activated frequently in response to Atlantic winter storms.
It is recognised that Ireland experienced one of the most dangerous and destructive storms in living memory on Friday, 24 January 2025, when Storm Éowyn made landfall. Unprecedented damage was done by the storm, leaving approximately 768,000 homes, farms and businesses without power. Among the knock-on impacts were 84,000 customers not having access to water, a severely impacted transport system and the loss of connectivity and broadband for over 1 million customers. The Government recognises the hardship and distress experienced by many families and the disruption caused to farms, business, schools and wider society as a result of the impacts of Storm Éowyn.
I also take this opportunity to convey my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Kacper Dudek for their tragic loss. On behalf of the Government, I thank everyone involved in the preparation for, response to and recovery from Storm Éowyn. We are incredibly grateful for people's dedication, skills and willingness to leave their families and homes to work to restore power to the families and homes of others. Without them, it could not have been done.
An emergency management system, which was developed in accordance with the principles of good international emergency management practice and successfully co-ordinates a whole-of-government approach at national and local levels, has been developed and utilised in Ireland over the past decade. This system has been used successfully to manage several extreme weather events, including Storm Ophelia on 16 October 2017 and the snow event, Storm Emma, which lasted from 27 February to 4 March 2018. Underpinning this system is the 2017 strategic emergency management framework, published by the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence, which facilitates a co-ordinated leadership in the face of extreme and difficult conditions, rapid identification of key issues and supports necessary to ensure an effective response and whole-of-government co-ordination supporting all local authorities that lead in the response to severe weather events.
It has been claimed there was a lack of a co-ordinated plan for dealing with Storm Éowyn. I put on the record that this was not the case. Officials from the national directorate for fire and emergency management in my Department identified the potential for severe and destructive weather in advance of the naming of Storm Éowyn. They made advanced contact with both local authorities, the lead agency in respect of severe weather, the ESB, EirGrid and Uisce Éireann on 22 January. This gave them the opportunity to stand up their crisis management teams, activate response plans and have crews and equipment ready for immediate deployment as soon as it was safe to do so. Furthermore, as part of the preparatory process in advance of Storm Éowyn, a national emergency co-ordination group - the NECG, which is the established Government platform for responding to national level emergencies under the strategic emergency management framework, was activated on 22 January. In this case, it was chaired by my Department as lead Government Department. It is mandatory for all Government Departments and key national agencies to attend the NECG. The activation of the NECG is notified through the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence. At this early stage of the process, key public safety messaging is developed and communicated among the NECG and this messaging is pushed out through all mediums. This messaging is aligned to Met Éireann weather warnings issued to protect life and ensure citizen safety.
As soon as it was possible to do so, local authorities working with the support of other members of the NECG's subgroup on humanitarian assistance led and co-ordinated a local level response to the needs of people who had been significantly impacted by the storm. Emergency response hubs were activated to assist people with basic needs such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access and shower facilities, with approximately 380 hubs established at the peak of the response. Helplines were established for those in need of assistance. They provided advice and direction to supports available, including the Department of Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme. Support and equipment were provided to those most in need, where possible.
All local authorities shared available resources between them and a central national database was established to support this work. Local authorities ensured all appropriate local and national organisations were co-ordinated in responding to individual and community needs and, most importantly, that the needs of the most vulnerable were prioritised. The NECG and its relevant subgroups met every day from the date of its establishment on 22 January until Monday, 10 February, with the Government Information Service issuing NECG press releases every day containing important public information. The key priorities of the NECG remained the restoration of power, water, telecommunications and other services to homes, farms and businesses; and the provision of humanitarian assistance to those worst affected by Storm Éowyn.
The NECG oversaw the intensive work across the whole of government to restore power, water, telecommunications and other services to homes, farms and businesses. A key focus was finding ways to support power restoration works that would make the most impact on restoring water, communications and other essential services. The NECG had four subgroups dedicated to both preparatory decisions and co-ordinating the recovery phase: the subgroup on education and transport, the subgroup on power infrastructure, the subgroup on communications infrastructure and the subgroup on humanitarian assistance
Working together, all members of the NECG were in a position to make key decisions and co-ordinate efforts to facilitate the recovery. These efforts included activating the EU civil protection mechanism, resulting in the production of vital mapping information and the donation of 18 high voltage generators to support recovery efforts; co-ordinating the assistance of local authorities, Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and other bodies to clear trees and debris from roads and access routes to allow for ESB and Uisce Éireann crew to repair restore points; securing assistance from the Defence Forces, Civil Defence, the Coast Guard and the Air Corps to provide drones and operators, helicopters to support damage assessment, and transport and logistics solutions; activating humanitarian hubs with the assistance of local authorities, community groups and NGOs to provide assistance on the ground; compiling lists of resources such as generators and deploying them where they could be most impactful; ensuring any resources available were being used to support utilities, the health and education sectors and humanitarian efforts; and co-ordinating mutual assistance including support of incoming crews deployed to the restoration of the ESB network.
The Government continues to support those severely impacted, including individuals, families, communities, businesses and sports clubs, through the Department of Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme. The programme for Government includes a commitment to develop an extreme weather event assistance scheme for homes, community organisations, farmers and businesses, which will be brought forward as a matter of priority. Interdepartmental co-ordination, led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, continues in respect of the full restoration of telecoms and connectivity. Local authorities in impacted areas continue to lead and co-ordinate a local level response to the needs of people who have been significantly impacted by the storm.
There will be a lot to learn once we are fully out of the response stage in respect of Storm Éowyn. The strategic emergency management framework overseen by the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence will be reviewed through the Government task force on emergency planning. My Department will be commissioning a detailed review of the response to Storm Éowyn that will be submitted to the Government task force on emergency planning, highlighting key findings and making recommendations that will be agreed and assigned to all relevant sectors for rapid implementation. There will be a key focus on planning, business continuity management, and further strengthening the resilience of our infrastructure and essential services.
I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad. This may be his first time here since the reinstatement of the Seanad. I wish him well in his role. It is a daunting one but I have no doubt he will bring much experience, expertise and passion to the area.
May this side of the House, and certainly the Fianna Fáil group, be associated with the condolences to the family and friends of Kacper Dudek? His death was a tragic accident. We certainly share in the expressions of sympathy.
It is of scant comfort to those impacted but it is important to note that Storm Éowyn was an unprecedented weather event in our lifetimes. It smashed all records and caused widespread devastation and outages for hundreds of thousands of families around the country. It is important to note from what the Minister has said that he has already considered an enhanced winter grid resilience plan, an increased stock of spare parts for the electricity network, the creation of forestry corridors to protect overhead line corridors and, of course, the enhancement of partnerships across Europe.
I note that co-ordination teams were put in place in 19 counties. Obviously, some counties were more impacted than others, but every county was impacted and I certainly believe there should have been a local co-ordination group set up in each. While Kildare was not one of the local authority areas that had a local co-ordination group, it was certainly very much impacted in that there are people who did not have water for up to a week or more and people who did not have electricity for ten days or more. The areas most impacted were around Rathangan and the north west of the county, including Clogharinka. The local authority did not take action straight away to provide hubs, but local communities, especially the people in Clogharinka and Robertstown, did. Their GAA clubs opened up and provided comfort, places for people to charge their mobile phones, hot water and so on. This was very important. I thank all those who helped in this regard. It is really important, however, having had this experience and as we plan, that there should be a fund and supports so local hubs can be put in place very quickly to support those within specific geographic areas.
With regard to forestry conditions, I am aware the circumstances were particularly bad in Leitrim. All around the country fallen lines were very much caused by the issues we have owing to felling licences not being given. This has to be treated as a priority. I am aware it falls outside the Minister’s remit, but if we are to have a co-ordinated approach and joined-up thinking, we need to ensure felling licences are given. We must also deal with ash dieback because it is continuing to cause problems. Trees are continuing to fall because of the after effects of the storm. There are still no-go areas.
There are forests that people use for recreational walking. Just last week, I went to Killinthomas Wood, which is outside Rathangan. It is still a no-go area but I noted when I went past the barrier, which I should not have done, there seemed to have been no clean-up at all. It is important that work in recreational areas, especially for those who live in towns and may not have space, take place urgently.
Regarding the welfare of those reliant on electrical medical equipment and those who are ill, a register needs to be put in place in every local authority area that people can sign so we will have a sense, locally, regionally and nationally, of those who depend on electrical devices. For newborn babes, too, we should have a system online where people can sign up so, as soon as we have an emergency such as the one we had, we will be able to offer help and support.
It is very good that we are now starting to consider generators for water treatment plants. This is important. Having access to generators at central areas within communities could be funded. Their use could be co-ordinated at local authority and community levels.
I thank all the ESB workers and other emergency workers who worked night and day to support everybody. Without them, we certainly would not have restored power as quickly as we did, even though it took some time in some areas.
It is really good that a humanitarian assistance scheme was put in place, but there were people other than homeowners affected. Businesses were also impacted. Businesses providing broadband infrastructure, in particular, lost six weeks of work. There should be a scheme put in place to compensate businesses that lost out.
I thank the Minister for the work he is doing. It is important we have this debate and that the Minister and Department have the opportunity to take on board some of the recommendations coming from me and my colleagues.
The Minister is welcome to the House. I congratulate him on his elevation.
I believe there is now a requirement for a statutorily based overarching emergency management structure in Ireland. Storm Éowyn had a devastating impact throughout Ireland. It had a destructive impact on our critical national infrastructure, especially our electricity grid and water resources. Three weeks from deploying national and international repair crews, full recovery of the infrastructural resources had not been achieved. Citizens were left traumatised by the delays in returning to full capacity. Property and community facilities lay in ruins. Many with specific health issues, such as those requiring dialysis, were left in fear of their very lives as a result of the terrible storm.
Contrary to some comments, these devastating storms are fast becoming regular events in Ireland. Widespread floods and storm damage visit this country increasingly regularly.
Many are questioning the State's strategic readiness and capacity in emergency management response. Their voices are getting louder. A complete review of emergency planning is long overdue. It is time we took a look under the bonnet of emergency management and examined exactly how Ireland's resilience will cope under stress tests.
Most colleagues will know that the three legs of the emergency management stool are An Garda Síochána, the Health Service Executive and local authorities. However, while each of these entities is statutorily based, there is no super-statutory body overseeing their response or outputs in the event of a civil emergency. As the Minister knows, the EU perspective on civil protection is that it is a subsidiarity issue. The EU provides co-ordination but does not legislate in this area. Legislation is a matter for each member state. Ireland is unique in being the only member state in the EU that does not have a legislative or statutory base for its emergency management structure and response. This lack of legislation puts the emergency structure and processes in Ireland at severe disadvantage. The language used in regard to Ireland's emergency management refers to guidance and recommendations. Nowhere is there provision to require or compel action. Primary responsibility rests with the Government of the day to protect our territory and citizens against disasters and to provide disaster management systems. Such systems should have sufficient sovereign, full-spectrum and immediate on-call capabilities that are identifiable and readily available. We need a process for a national notice to move surge capacity personnel and equipment reserves, along with additional third-line national contingency resilience on notice, to enable our country to cope adequately with disasters that can reasonably be expected and for which we must be prepared.
The Framework for Major Emergency Management has been in place since 2006, replacing the earlier arrangements put in place in 1984. The 2006 document sets out mechanisms for on-site co-ordination in the event of a major emergency, including at local and regional levels. However, it does not cover arrangements at national level. At best, it could be referred to as a regional framework. The 2006 framework is currently under review.
The strategic emergency planning guidance, which includes specific core points, was published by the Office of Emergency Planning in 2004 and was to be replaced by a national framework in 2015. The national framework is focused on providing strategic guidance and direction to Departments and agencies under its aegis. The national framework is not to be confused with the major emergency management framework. The lead Department concept, whereby responsibility for emergency management of identified risks is allocated to the most appropriate Department, is at the core of the strategic emergency planning guidance. Departments are not subordinate to each other. Implementing the decisions made by the lead Department, which may impact on another Department, can be very complex and sometimes unworkable. The designation of the most appropriate Department is not always the most advantageous. In organising a response, care must be taken not to intrude on matters appropriate to decision making by Ministers. In all circumstances, each Department must ensure its Minister is kept briefed on any emergency or crisis situation. Among the core points in the strategic emergency planning guidance is subsidiarity, whereby emergencies should be handled at the lowest possible level while at all times keeping the higher levels of authority aware of the situation, where appropriate.
As the Minister knows, in an emergency, a national emergency co-ordination group is created. The primary role of this group is to co-ordinate a whole-of-government response, as he noted in his opening statement. In certain circumstances, this group may have to act as a decision-making forum as opposed to merely co-ordinating Departments and agencies. In Ireland, decision making is not usual at this level, whereas in other jurisdictions, it is the norm. Clear policy decisions are issued, the intent of those decisions moves to specific actions at lower levels in the structure and, where necessary, detail is added. In the UK, for example, the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 sets out the philosophy, principles, structures and regulatory duties in respect of the emergency response. It is a form of primary legislation allowing for the provision of secondary legislation to permit or require that a person or body is or is not to perform a duty under the relevant regulation.
Misconceptions exist regarding major emergency response in the context of civil protection. There is a difficult political dimension to a major emergency, which a government has to manage. Emergencies must be managed and that takes resources and political energy. Experience from other EU countries and the US shows that the concept of a single strong voice, an individual leader or central organisation taking charge is a fallacy. What is required is a clear decision-making mandate and a process to activate decisions quickly. There must be a process in place to ensure decisions are implemented once they are made. The various emergency services are the primary responders when disaster strikes. Secondary responders, such as power and telecommunication companies, other utilities such as water and gas providers, the Defence Forces and the Civil Defence, perform a vital role where the primary responders cannot provide a response on time.
There are gaps in the current major emergency response structure. Both research and the experience in other countries shows that the measures I will now outline give the best improvement in overall response but are only achieved when demanded by regulation. It is important to foster community resilience, which my colleague mentioned, by having in-date relevant contingency plans, providing training and creating a response structure. This needs to be the responsibility of a designated official in resilience forums based in a local geographic area. Co-ordination of the secondary response by utilities should be done on a regulatory basis. Critical infrastructure must be identified and classified appropriately for action. We need an effective and truthful lessons-learned process. The Minister mentioned he will look back at the response to the storm, which I hope is done. A lessons-learned process must be put in place in respect of exercises and responses to emergencies. This must be based on a no-blame functionality. We can look at this issue in honesty without looking for heads to roll or anything like that. We are looking to learn. There should be mandatory stress-testing simulation training and exercises in benign scenarios for managers and co-ordinators at senior level, to include political leaders. Desktop exercises are merely conversations. Response actions should be in place on receipt of, and in advance of, a specific warning. The provision of warnings and information to the public is insufficient. We need specific preparatory actions depending on the degree of anticipated impact. Gaining control of the media message is vital. This is particularly true of social media and is critical for confidence in community resilience. An ICT-based decision support and reporting system will give a faster and more effective response. Currently, relevant data is significantly out of date when it is assembled for analysis. Decision makers are often dependent on media reports, with key issues not being recognised.
Without a legislative base, there will be no requirement or incentive to join elements that already exist in Ireland for emergency management into an effective and efficient structure. A possible approach is to change the Office of Emergency Planning into an interdepartmental legal entity with a clear mandate and appropriate authority. This was what the Government envisaged when the Office of Emergency Planning was created in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001. Regardless of which Department any such statutory body might reside in, it would be mere window dressing without a Government commitment to annualised guaranteed funding to support such an overdue emergency management response policy. It is what developed democracies do to safeguard their citizens.
I congratulate the workers, including in local authorities, the ESB, the gas and water companies, etc., who put themselves in danger in going out to get their communities back online. Notwithstanding my call for a statutorily based emergency planning entity, I compliment the Government on the good job it did. The damage that was done was unprecedented and would take many countries by surprise. We do not need to be overly critical of what happened. A good job was done by all. However, I would like the Minister to look at putting things on a statutory basis.
I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his promotion to his new role. Storm Éowyn brought some of the most severe winds we have ever experienced since records began, with speeds of 184 km/h recorded at Mace Head and Carna in County Galway.
At that point, the recording equipment stopped and lost power.
Thankfully – if there is something to be thankful for – the storm happened at night when the majority of people were in bed. I join the Minister in the commiseration expressed to the family of Kacper Dudek, the young man who lost his life tragically in County Donegal, who was coming from work at 5.30 a.m. Were the storm to have happened at this time of the day, people would be out and about. Some people would be doing foolish things such as testing their strength against the wind and perhaps be out trying save roofs, sheds, different bits and pieces, and things like that. Thankfully, it happened in the middle of the night.
The aftermath pushed all services to the pin of their collar and it is worth reviewing, not in a critical way but in a preparative way, for the next storm. It would be safe to assume that, with climate change, the weather and our storms are getting worse. Therefore, we have to be able to learn lessons and be better prepared for the next storm. I acknowledge the work of local communities and of farmers, landowners, homeowners and neighbours who cleared roads and cut trees where they were able and where it was safe to do so immediately the next morning. I know from experience the level of work done in my own local community as well as in other communities. Great credit is due to the emergency services and local authorities, who showed their value in terms of preparedness. Crises bring out the best in bodies and it is important to acknowledge that, and in communities as well.
I pay tribute to the ESB. It had a very tough job. It was getting very frustrating at the end for people who had gone past day four, five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten, in some cases. It had an amount of work to do to clear away fallen trees and, in some cases, fallen forests over power lines. I also acknowledge the work of international crews who came in, as Irish crews have gone abroad in times of crisis to other European countries.
It is important to note that the storm exposed weaknesses in our power network. The impact of fallen trees both on general lines and those through forests is a problem that needs to be addressed. That can be done with physical work to ensure that trees close to power lines are removed. There is no easy way to do that, unfortunately. We also have to look at the actual infrastructure in terms of the physical poles and pylons around the country. Unfortunately, there are poles that were weak, aged and shattered easily, not just in this storm but also in a previous storm we had before Christmas in Connemara, where snow on top of power lines caused poles to snap.
The storm also exposed issues with the water network. It is clear there was not the capacity to change over from electricity to generators in many plants. Even if they had generators, they did not have the capacity to switch over quickly and easily. Whether it be pumping stations or treatment plants, they were not ready for these power outages. The lack of generator capacity in the facility to seamlessly switch seemed to be present in many cases. We cannot have a situation where homes are left without water and electricity for prolonged periods. One of them is bad enough; to have two at the same time was very troubling for families, particularly larger families, who have higher water demands.
However many days we are on since the storm, we still have complaints about phone outages and broadband outages across the country. Eir is doing the best it can as broadband providers. It is clear there are staffing issues within Eir. It was not ordered or not in a capacity to rehire recently retired staff to deal with the aftermath of the storm like the ESB was able to. Eir did not do that, as far as I understand - certainly in my area. There is a small number of staff dealing with big geographical areas. Even before the storm, it was evident on the sides of roads. In many parts of my area, there were cables falling on the ground, trailing on the ground and tied into trees to keep them away from the road. The basic infrastructure that Telecom Éireann would have been able to look after back in its day is not being looked after to the same degree. It is no fault of the people on the ground because it is clear there are not enough of them; they are operating in a wide geographical area. We hear reports that some 1 million trees have fallen between power and telecom lines, which will obviously have an impact. There has to be a more co-ordinated approach between ESB, Eir and local authorities to ensure the roadside hedges are trimmed, roadside tees are cut back where they are impacting and there is considerable leeway left in forests as well. In new forestry plantations, there is a sufficient margin - I think it is a sufficient margin but maybe it is not. However, certainly in older lines, it is clear there is not.
The local authorities had a co-ordinating role and they were involved in the establishment of the hubs or, as Senator O’Loughlin said, perhaps the communities initiated those first and the councils followed on. But look, everybody is learning from these things. Hubs could only be put in place in some places, if they did not have generators, when the electricity came back. They were not there quick enough in terms of the immediate response. In that case, you would need to be able to identify hubs for future events that would have generator backup that could be up and running the next morning if a storm happened that night. Then you would have the facilities, the ability to be in a warm place, phone charging facilities, the ability to make a cup of tea, a shower facility and all that goes with that. It is important those will be put in place as well.
The forestry industry suffered severe damage and knock-on losses because of the storm. We need to look at the implications so we do not have a repeat and also look at possible help for forests to regrow. Given that full commercial forests were felled, whether they be private or Coillte forests, it will have a huge impact on the raw material that is so badly needed for the construction sector in the future as well as profits. There was a timeline to harvest that timber to ensure it is of use going forward.
I think the State did well but more could be done for the future. It is important that we learn lessons that would ensure we have a more co-ordinated response and preventative actions are put in place to keep our power lines clear. Perhaps they were better in the past, and maybe for a period of time after this storm there will be an amount of work done and then they will be forgotten about again. That is a danger. There needs to be an ongoing review and ongoing maintenance to keep the lines clear. We cannot prevent storms but we can ensure our response is as good as it can be. One would also be concerned with the trees that did not fall. Many of those trees will be now weakened by the back and forth and swaying of severe storms. They could fall more easily in the next storm, even if it is not as severe. There are many ongoing issues.
It was a great relief to all of us who suffered power outages for the power to come back. It was very difficult for those who were waiting for ten or 11 days, particularly if they were also out of water. Some of the agencies can do better, such as Uisce Éireann and Eir. They need to look at their staffing levels on the ground in terms of maintenance and response. For future events, if they can look at bringing back recently retired staff who are able to go out, as the ESB staff were, it would be positive to have boots on the ground responding to the challenges and getting people reconnected as soon as possible.
I commend the Minister and I hope he can take up some of those issues.
I understand that Senators Pauline Tully and Maria McCormack are sharing time. Is that agreed? Agreed.
As one of the Senators who called for it on one of the first days after this Seanad met, I welcome this debate on Storm Éowyn. Cavan was badly hit by the storm, as were Monaghan and other counties in the midlands and the west. My neighbours and I were without power for nine days, which was very tough, but I was in a position to hop in the car and go somewhere to find a shower, heat or power. Many vulnerable people were not in that position. Older people, disabled people and people who rely on power for medical devices such as hospital beds, hoists, dialysis machines and oxygen machines were left in a perilous position. It did not matter if they were on the ESB vulnerable list. It made no difference to how they were treated following the storm. Something needs to be done to plan for a future severe weather event so that those people are not left without power. Perhaps the ESB could provide small generators, or have them ready for supply, to people who are going to be without power and who need them.
The updates from the ESB's PowerCheck service were also frustrating. They kept changing or being bypassed. It was really disappointing because people thought their power was going to be back that night or the next day, only for the update to change and it to then be next week. This was frustrating but it was a great feeling to get the power back in the end.
I am still being contacted by people from all over Cavan who have no broadband. Many of them are working from home. Many are farmers who cannot operate cameras to oversee livestock, for example. The main frustration for them is the lack of communication from the communications companies. This needs to be dealt with. People are trying to contact the companies to get an update as to when broadband will be restored. They have been without it for longer than a month now. They cannot get through or there is no response or indication provided. Whether fibre or otherwise, the broadband companies need to up their game big time because they were not prepared to address these problems and have been quite relaxed about addressing the issues.
The fact that Uisce Éireann had no generators in many cases to operate its water treatment plants and reservoirs was unbelievable in this day and age. We have had a number of severe weather events where power has been lost. Uisce Éireann should have been aware that this was going to happen. The warnings were severe. It has been pointed out to me that, in the aftermath of Storm Darragh, water tankers were very quickly placed in many towns and villages for people who had been affected by a loss of water. While that did happen this time, it was slower in happening. It should have been faster. I am glad to hear that Uisce Éireann is now investing in generators that will be able to operate its reservoirs and water plants.
I call for the humanitarian assistance scheme to be expanded to businesses, farms, community and voluntary groups, and sporting organisations that have been affected by the storm, especially where insurance will not cover the loss of income and damages suffered by businesses. People had to invest in generators. There was an element of price gouging by some retailers in that regard. It was disappointing to see them taking advantage of people's situations. Generators also cost money to operate, and where people had them, they were caught where fuel was concerned. People had to eat out because they got fed up trying to cook on a small camping stove or one ring of a cooker. Many people are out of pocket, and this needs to be addressed.
It is essential that the cost of the storm is not borne by ESB customers as was threatened by the head of the ESB. The company made significant profits last year of €898 million. Since 2021, the energy regulator has been urging it to prepare for extreme weather events, but it has failed to plan. This is on the ESB and should not be borne by the customers. That is not to take away from the ESB crews on the ground. They worked night and day to assess and address the damage. I commend them. I also commend the community spirit shown by the many who set up community hubs or helped out their neighbours. If people's power was restored or if they had a generator, they were quick to offer it to somebody who did not. I commend all of those for their generosity of spirit in the community and the crews who worked tirelessly on the ground.
Before I call Senator McCormack, I welcome Leo Farrell, who is in the Public Gallery with Senator O'Donovan. He is a transition year student from Skibbereen who is on work experience.
I will keep it local to Laois because many of the points have already been covered. In rural areas like Laois, power cuts do not just mean the lights go out. They mean that families lose access to heating, water pumps and vital medical equipment become unusable, and farmers struggle to feed or milk their livestock. Small businesses that are already under pressure lost trade and stock. We need to look at this more. I welcome the humanitarian assistance fund but it must be expanded to small businesses in our community.
Storms like Storm Éowyn are not rare freak events anymore. Climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and more severe. We need a plan that is proactive rather than reactive. Like Senator Craughwell, I call for a national resilience plan whereby we put investment into energy infrastructure in advance to make the grid more resilient, particularly in rural areas where the outages last longest. Too many businesses, schools and homes remained without power for far too long following Storm Éowyn. We were not lucky enough to have a community response hub in Laois. As others have mentioned, it would be great to have fully equipped backup generators in surrounding areas for vulnerable people who are left without heat, food or medical support. There should also be a fast-tracked compensation and support scheme. Although the humanitarian assistance fund was fantastic, it was slow and only available to homeowners. I again call for small businesses, especially in the communities that bore the brunt of this, to be added to this scheme.
I hope we can now plan for the future, learn from Storm Éowyn and put effective measures in place.
Next is Senator Noonan, whom I understand is sharing time with Senator Cosgrove.
Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I congratulate him on his appointment to the Custom House. There is a great team over there. I wish him all the best in his tenure. I join in the sympathies with the family of Kacper Dudek, who lost his life during the terrible storm.
People, communities and businesses affected by Storm Éowyn are looking to us, as policymakers, to assess how we can help them and be better prepared for future events. That is something we all want to achieve. Now that many global leaders have effectively given up the ghost as regards meeting binding climate targets and have turned their attention to magicking up solutions such as carbon capture and storage, we must move swiftly on to adaptation and try to embed resilience community by community, home by home and town by town. The EPA anticipates that, in a scenario of just over 1°C warming, Ireland will see an increased incidence of heavy rainfall events, with overall significant reductions in average annual levels of spring and summer rainfall and rising sea levels. Some modelling puts us on a trajectory towards 2.5°C. Heat stress accounts for the highest number of fatalities in Europe by far. The past decade has broken all records, breaching the 1.5°C average increase in temperature that we are told is our only chance of avoiding chaos.
Ireland's adaptation framework must now be reviewed in light of Storm Éowyn. The plan assigns three levels of responsibility towards adaptation to the effects of a warming planet. Local plans should afford priority to local knowledge and experience. Regional plans look to the cross-boundary nature of extreme weather events, whether flooding, prolonged drought, fire or wind. Nationally, the Irish Government has an important role to play at EU level in working with other member states to embed resilience across the Continent, share services where feasible and learn from all of these events. Taking into account the national adaptation framework and the development of local authority climate action plans under the NAF, all 31 local authorities prepare local adaptation strategies. Local authority CAP guidelines have been developed by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in collaboration with key players in the local government and climate sectors. These are overseen by the project advisory group, which sets out how local authority CAPs should be prepared. This includes specific guidance on climate adaptation. Each local authority CAP is required to include a climate change risk assessment for the administrative area of the local authority. A technical annex provides guidance on how to undertake a climate change risk assessment. This has been developed on the basis of the existing local authority adaptation strategy guidelines along with adaptation to climate change guidelines on vulnerability impacts and risk assessment.
The framework is also clear about collaboration with other local authorities, and it states that local authorities should collaborate with other relevant public bodies, such as the climate action regional offices, CAROs, the EPA, Met Éireann, the SEAI, Government and other agencies in co-ordinating climate adaptation efforts at regional and national levels. It is important that local experience and knowledge are part of any review and that is something I think we all agree on, not just from Storm Éowyn, but from other weather events. In all of these cases there has been an inconsistent level of preparedness and sometimes poor collaboration and sharing of resources. These all contributed to negative outcomes for communities. We must work with nature. We have an opportunity through the upcoming national nature restoration plan and the resources of the climate and nature fund to restore free-flowing rivers, to increase riparian planting and to use nature-based solutions to help alleviate flooding events in urban and rural areas. We heard calls to address flooding through dredging. That is not really the right approach, and in any event would be constrained by the EU habitats regulations. However, there are nature-based solutions that can work on a catchment level, but we need to begin acting urgently. Calls for a derogation in the hedge cutting season are equally unhelpful in the debate. Road safety is already catered for under the Wildlife Act, and there needs to be a funded plan for pruning and reduction of roadside trees. Trees provide valuable ecosystem services in our countryside.
Storm Éowyn destroyed tens of thousands of acres of both private and State forestry and there is a perfect storm of a crisis in the sector now. While thoughts immediately turn to supports for growers and I welcome the establishment of the windblow task force, there is a glut of approximately two years of lumber lying flattened like matchsticks. It needs to be harvested and taken to sawmills for processing. Local power generation and battery storage should be planned for to mitigate against a risk of prolonged power outages. How will the insurance industry respond to the increasing frequency and ferocity of weather-related events?
Storm Éowyn has exposed a vulnerability in terms of our preparedness for what will be a volatile future. In many ways that future is here, and we should have learned from the shortcomings and from the communities and local people to ramp up investment in risk reduction, resilience and future-proofing infrastructure to protect lives and livelihoods.
In the context of the debate on the future of our Defence Forces, I welcome plans to increase investment in both equipment, capabilities and personnel wages and conditions. I believe Óglaigh na hÉireann should be included in future adaptation plans as having a key role under its mandated remit of aid to the civil authority. If the State is going to invest in equipment, vehicles, helicopters and other fleet, we must ensure it has dual-purpose capability. Such equipment could be deployed rapidly in cases of flooding, fires, snow events or other natural disasters. This must be about collaboratively building and embedding a culture of natural resilience into the system. Nílimid ann fós. Go deimhin, tá bealach fada le dul againn, but we have much to be grateful for and hopeful about. We have something that many other countries do not have. We still have strong community bonds. which have helped so many vulnerable people. We are also grateful to emergency services, local authorities, ESB crews and colleagues who joined from across Europe. Let us take all of these good outcomes to help shape a funded national resilience plan that will give us confidence in uncertain times.
There is no doubt that Storm Éowyn caused devastation to power and communication networks throughout the country as well as the financial loss caused through damage, including the loss of 4.1 million tonnes of timber or 11,740 ha of forestry. Other Senators have spoken, as I will, about looking for redress for forest owners and I have submitted this as a Commencement matter for next week. In my area of County Leitrim this can be a direct result of the overforestation of a monoculture of Sitka spruce.
I focus today on a different type of loss and damage, which may take as long or be as difficult to restore as any amount of forestry. This is the damage that cannot be seen. I am talking about the damage done to the relationship between the citizen and the State. This is the loss of faith many people in the west and north west have experienced due to feeling neglected and virtually ignored by the State and the anger they feel as this is being repeated across many spheres. We all accept this storm was unprecedented, but while many people in urban centres had power and communications rapidly restored, for rural communities across the country, the suffering seemed to go on and on. I am thinking about communities such as Geevagh and Highwood in rural County Sligo, many of which were without power for two weeks having only just recovered from Storm Darragh last December. The Sligo Champion reported on the case of an elderly couple, Seamus and May, who resorted to living in the kitchen huddled together around their old solid fuel range and who were lighting this space with their tractor, which was left running outside and shining through the kitchen window. That is not okay.
I am thinking about people who were given humanitarian relief forms by local county councillors, who admitted as they handed them out, that nobody knew what could and could not be claimed for. I know from speaking to other Seanadóirí that there was no consistency to this and there were different rules for different counties. The response was a shambles in my opinion. Community organisations and community-minded individuals stepped up, and without them where would we have been? The Coach House Hotel in Ballymote, County Sligo, for example, was one of the first to throw open its doors for free use as a warm, dry place for people to come to work, charge their devices, shower or just relax and have a cup of tea. A similar example of community services was shown by GAA groups and sports clubs throughout the region and country.
Community organisations and individuals cannot fill the void left by a lack of governmental response. They do not have the resources or the responsibility and citizens know that. People keep asking where the leadership was when they needed it. I know Ministers felt they were better working in the Departments, and they may technically have been correct. However, while the Dáil remained in recess, citizens in counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal wanted to see their leaders on the ground and wanted to know their needs had been acknowledged and their concerns had been addressed. Instead, an attitude of having done all they can persists. The new Minister for forestry was criticised by a local county councillor on local radio for being conspicuous by his absence instead of coming to see first-hand the damage done as some members of the community were 21 days without power. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, only responded last week on our local radio station, Ocean FM, not by acknowledging there were some shortcomings but by attacking and making a direct response to the local representative saying he would not accept any criticisms whatsoever from that certain county councillor or from anyone else.
It is clear to anyone who had eyes and ears on the ground that the Government response was not as good as it should have been. The west and the north west were again treated with contempt and were given crumbs from the table. Every person who has spoken has said that water supplies should never have been lost. Community generators could have been stockpiled for distribution to areas affected for prolonged periods. This is not being wise after the event. Dr. Tara Shine has been warning us since 2011 to get prepared. This is climate catastrophe in action. We have been warned since 2011. Storm Ophelia in 2017, Storm Ellen in 2020 and Storm Darragh at the end of last year were all warnings that we needed to get our house in order so we can build resilience against the likelihood of more storms as climate change continues and accelerates. An essential part of that resilience is that people need to have faith that we will learn from our mistakes and put plans in place to make things better the next time. We need to be able to rely on the authorities and members of the Government, and figures in authority need to know when there are failings and how to put them right. Saying sorry and trying to do better next time are essential components of trying to repair damaged relationships, and some Ministers could well learn from remembering that.
I will pick up where the previous speaker ended on the warnings we have had from Dr. Tara Shine and others. These extreme weather events are happening more often right across the world. I have spoken about the ten warmest years on record, but right across the world we are seeing an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms, drought, the wildfires that come with drought, of mud slides and the huge shifts in climate and the environment. These are the emergency events but there are also many other slightly slower moving shifts - devastating for farmers worldwide - and more extreme temperatures at higher levels right across the world. I remember not long ago in the previous Oireachtas we were talking about "Keep 1.5° Alive" in terms of the climate debate, because 1.5°C was going to be so devastating. Now we are beginning to hit 1.5°C this year. We are in an era where it is not just about readiness but an urgency in what we do to prevent climate change.
At this point it is not about preventing it but preventing the extremes of climate change. It is important and people have given valuable input into emergency response and how to improve and strengthen it. I appreciate the Minister came in with detail of the mechanisms that are in place, but it is also important to be able to hear from people when they talk about what worked and what did not work and adapting and shifting that.
I will speak about two or three of the areas where we need not just better emergency response but better resilience, preparedness and shifts in policy so we avoid the kind of emergency situations and some of the catastrophes we have seen in recent times.
I am not going to go into climate policy in detail because I would be here for the afternoon, but I will focus on a few of the key areas. Forestry has been spoken about. Others have talked of the importance of not having this wood be wasted and that all the fallen trees should be harvested and used because every tree that falls contains carbon that should not be wasted at a time when we cannot afford to waste any part of our planetary limit with respect to carbon production. However, we also need a shift in forestry policy. It is not simply about the money. For lots of people it is about the money and it is important that is recognised and supported, but it is also around changing the policies on forestry. A huge number of hectares of forestry were hit and just over 11,600 ha of Coillte's plantations were hit badly by the storm. This far exceeded the damage caused by Storm Darwin and others. It exceeded all previous records. We must talk very honestly about Sitka spruce, monoculture and how literal tinkering at the edges – whereby we get a few broadleaves planted around the edge of a big Sitka spruce plantation - will not do it and will not be enough.
The Minister of State will be aware of my mandate for nature Bill, which has progressed partly through these Houses and which I will be bringing forward again in this term. It was a Bill to change the mandate of Coillte from a very short-term one, namely, the business of forestry on a commercial basis. We are aware that has been interpreted in shareholder letters from Government as cash-generating and concerned with how Government can get a little bit of cash quickly from Coillte. It does not even make very much. It is just about whether Coillte can make cash and can it make it quickly. My Bill would ensure Coillte, which is responsible for 7% of the land in this State, not all of which is suitable for forestry, would be handled in a responsible way. The Bill would replace that very narrow commercial business along with a little sideline in some climate projects with a mandate that it be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. We can still have an economic business in terms of forestry, but each economic choice would be checked against what its impact would be environmentally, whether it is sustainable, whether the trees are going to stay standing and what the social impact is going to be if we are planting poorly advised plantations of monoculture that cannot withstand extreme events as extreme events increase in communities across Ireland.
There are some very real reasons behind this. Sitka spruce plantations are often particularly vulnerable as they are often planted in shallow, peaty soil, the trees have root plates that are broad and shallow and they grow tall and slender. They are very weak and vulnerable to high winds. They are not suitable for planting at the scale we have done. People have talked about continuous cover forestry as one of the ways we can address this, and I agree. We must also recognise that what our forests are going to be doing for us is actual carbon storage, which does not mean 20 years in a tree before that is cut down. It is a fact that forestry is a net emitter in Ireland right now. Instead, it is about planting in ways that are resilient. A previous catastrophe we had befell Killarney. We saw huge wildfires there a few years ago and native trees proved more resilient in areas where there were original stands of oak and other species. Scientifically, we know a mix of trees species and indigenous trees are more resilient to extreme weather events, be that fire or the storm we had.
That is the kind of conversation we need to have about forestry. I am grateful we have not had too much in this Chamber of the frankly unhelpful discussion we saw in the other House about cutting every tree near a road. This is in a country where we have cut the trees in the middle. We have one of the lowest levels of forestry cover in Europe and in many cases we only have the trees by the roadways, along with our hedgerows. We have to use our hedgerows to try to maintain our biodiversity targets because we have cut everything else. It is about the right tree in the right place. Sitka spruce is not the right tree and they are not in the right place. It is about moving beyond just the roadside when it comes to where we are allowed plant trees in a meaningful way. When we chop down trees indiscriminately, such as every tree greater than 6 or 8 ft tall, we increase the risk of flooding because trees are vital in the context of storms as they absorb moisture and prevent flooding. Poor and indiscriminate cutting is a recipe for increased flooding and for higher windspeeds and greater damage. The right trees, and the trees we have if properly protected and increased, are one of the things that are going to make us more resilient in the storms ahead.
I have spoken excessively on forestry when I had many other things I wanted to talk about, but I will focus briefly on some of the other areas we need to look at. We must look at strengthening our renewable energy. We had much complaining about renewable energy in the storm’s aftermath and suggestions we need more and more solid fuels. The situation showed, however, that we have been underinvesting in the storage component of renewable energy and the associated policies. I will highlight four aspects. There are solar panels that are unable to access their own energy because their systems are not configured to work off grid. If people have solar panels, they should be able to access that energy and it should be able to work as a reserve. The home battery grants were removed. We can talk about backup generators, but grants for people to have batteries at home were removed. People talked about peat fires and everything else, but a dialysis or CPAP machine cannot be run off those whereas it can be run off a home battery. The grants were removed in February 2022 when the microgeneration support scheme began, as if now people could sell power back to the grid we did not need to store it. It was not just about having batteries as a product to sell, however, but about having batteries as a resilience tool. That should be reintroduced. We should look again at the vehicle to load functions of electric vehicles. It should be one of the requirements so it is available as a backup. We are putting a huge amount of money into subsidising electric vehicles and it is possible to use them as a backup system. We must see that kind of investment systemically in community hubs and spaces that have proper energy resources we can access so we have a system across the country where people who need power can access it and we have individual supports in that regard in the form of backup generators. We certainly cannot intensify our fossil fuel usage and pretend that is somehow going to get us out of a hole, because it will ruin us. In particular, LNG, which will not give any resilience as it will take five or ten years to happen, will have the effect of pouring petrol on a fire because it has a higher climate impact and it has it quicker in carbon emissions terms. That would an absolute disaster both globally and nationally. I look forward to the Minister of State’s response.
The Minister of State is very welcome to the Seanad. I think it is his first time here and I wish him all the very best in his role. If ever there was one person who was fitting, he is the person for it.
There is another one over there.
My colleague who is over there, Senator Noonan, happens to agree with me and we have spoken about it.
This is a debate I called for, along with many other Senators. It was great to have the senior Minister earlier and I welcomed his contribution, especially where he said there will be much to learn from. He said we are fully out of the response stage in respect of it and that the strategic management framework overseen by the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence will be reviewed through the Government task force on emergency planning.
That is very welcome because a lot of key findings will come out of this. One of those findings will be that people suffered. There is no denying that whatsoever. However, our council staff and full-time emergency staff really stepped up, including all across Uisce Éireann, the ESB and many more, as did our volunteers and community response. It was phenomenal.
I come from County Galway, which is quite big. It is like County Cork. We are the second biggest county in the country. We have a real dynamic. I live on the banks of the River Shannon at Portumna, but the Atlantic borders the other part of my constituency, believe it or not. We were blessed with this particular storm in that it happened at night, at high tide, and because of its wind direction. If there had been the merry mix where there could have been that high tide and a slightly different wind direction, Galway city, Kinvara and all the way in would have got coastal flooding. There is no doubt about that. Where I live on the banks of the Shannon, we are always prone to flooding from excessive rain and everything else.
We need to look at what the emergency response is from our local authorities and whether it is co-ordinated at a local level. The Minister of State will find it hard to believe that retained firemen in Galway County Council cannot use a chainsaw. When there was an extreme weather event, like the one we have just experienced, we relied on volunteers and farmers. We relied on people to take the authority into their own hands to go and cut trees. I have no doubt they had no qualms about using their chainsaws but at the same time, there has to be an approach to that. There is a risk element in that farmers were putting their own lives at risk. They have not been trained in how to check for all the wires and everything else, although they did a fantastic job and cleared the roads. I know from talking to Senator Goldsboro that a chainsaw licence can be used in County Tipperary. We need a standardisation of approach.
That is just how the retained firefighters respond to an emergency. How they are called up to respond to an emergency needs to happen. This is especially the case where there is a city and county council dynamic, as there is in Galway, and that co-ordination between the two CEOs. They are two fantastic gentlemen doing a great job but it is about how the city and county respond to an emergency. That needs to be standardised. One of the stories I have, which I will share very quickly, was when a 999 call went in for the ambulance service to attend to get somebody from their home because of an emergency. That person had to wait one and a half hours for somebody who was trained to come to cut the tree to get the ambulance in. That is not good enough. A colleague of mine, Joe Sheridan from Dunmore, said that people had generators in the early 1900s. His area was the first where the lights went out and the last where they came on - they did not come back until 10 February. To be honest, they went from standing up a community response to getting to neighbouring areas, where they really identified the issues around social isolation and not having a very good, informed list of who was where.
There is also the issue of the food response. We need to look at our day services and how we ensure that our pharmacies, GPs and day centres all have that generated response. If they cannot send emails or process the emergency medicines that people rely on a daily basis, we have to look at that element within the community.
Forestry right across Galway is decimated, from Portumna to Derrycrag at Woodford and from Coole Park at Gort down to Monivea in north Galway. Our forestry system has been flattened.
The Minister of State is very welcome. It is great to have the opportunity to have this conversation. I will not go on about what happened during the storm. If anybody is looking for an insight or to get a snapshot of what it was like in my constituency of Roscommon-Galway, an article by the editor of the Roscommon Herald stated, "as [Storm] Éowyn swept in ... [I] prayed that the roof would remain on the house." I encourage people to look it up just to get an idea of the storm.
In responding to Storm Éowyn, I would like to talk about moving forward and what we can do to be ready the next time. The emergency response and its communication is something that we need to work on for future storms. It was a situation where local councillors and TDs throughout the country dropped everything and reacted and responded to the needs of their constituents to provide updates on restoration and available supports by any means available to them. We need to ensure a better mechanism is available in future to support these public representatives to provide that support. Some of my colleagues mentioned there was a different interpretation of what the supports were in different constituencies. We need to standardise that and ensure that the public representatives on the ground have access to that.
We need to now start the process of supporting the communities and clubs that opened up their facilities as community hubs to ensure that all the facilities needed to step in the next time are there. We need to provide the supports for those communities. We also need to look at areas that did not have community hubs and ensure that they have the facilities for whatever comes next. We need to provide similar mechanisms for childcare facilities and schools. A crèche in Frenchpark had its power out for two weeks after the storm, which had a knock-in effect on parents, working families and the mechanisms they use to get to work and look after their kids at the same time.
The mechanism for accessing hot food needs to be simplified and standardised throughout the country. There were situations where households at the periphery of the county where I live had to travel 20 or 30 minutes to access hot food, when similar was available within five minutes of their homes but across the county lines. We need to standardise that process so that all the local authorities are working off the same hymn sheet. We need to support our farmers, especially those who are currently repairing outbuildings and sheds where roofs and structures have been damaged. Many of these sheds in rural Ireland cannot be insured because of their age and now remain unstable and require full reroofing. A simple mechanism for this could be the inclusion of storm-related provisions in the TAMS programme. On the same basis, I would like something to provide funding for generators, or an alternative mechanism, for water pumps for livestock. That was a major issue for farmers throughout the country, which was not highlighted very much throughout the storm response. I received numerous calls on it. Farmers were genuinely worried about the well-being of their livestock.
I will submit a Commencement matter shortly regarding the senior alert scheme calling for standard SIM cards in the alarms that are provided, specifically, the use of multinetwork SIM cards attached to the strongest mobile phone network. This significantly reduces the possibility of a call failing to reach the monitoring centre in the event of a network outage or because of poor coverage. If one network is down, the SIM card automatically switches to the strongest alternative network.
The ESB was brilliant in its response, but maybe the communication was not as up to date as it could have been. The ESB brought teams in from across Europe to restore power. I was told of certain parts of County Roscommon that came off the ESB generators only last night, when they were reconnected to the grid a full month after the power had originally gone. We still have a situation in rural Ireland with regard to broadband a full month on, where large communities have no access to communications or broadband at present. These are townlands outside Ballinlough, where I am from, including Carrick, Laughil, Cloonakille, Grange Cross, Cloonalough and Falledeen. We are talking about a couple of hundred households that are still without broadband. In some cases, trees are still lying across the lines and there is no sign of that situation changing a full month after the storm.
Is there any way we can get an update on the humanitarian fund and what percentage of applications have been processed? What percentage are still awaiting processing? A couple of my colleagues have mentioned providing information, but it would be great if there were a central hub during emergencies or storms for information, accessing support mechanisms and an explanation of them. This would be a central place where people could find this information rather than us all scrambling around looking for it.
I am sharing time with Senator Joe Conway.
The Minister of State is welcome. Across the country, we had close to 1 million buildings without electricity. There is estimated damage of over €200 million to homes, roads and infrastructure as well as over €500 million in damage to the timber and horticultural industries. In my home constituency of Meath East, there are still homes that are lacking telephone lines over a month later.
As has been said at length in this House, we have seen the result of the Government's tendency to take a reactive emergency response approach instead of a proactive emergency prevention or minimisation one, but in the spirit of being proactive, I call on the Government to make a number of improvements for the future. One improvement would be for it to ensure that every school was provided with a generator. As the Covid pandemic taught us, it is paramount that children's routines be maintained in the face of interruptions.
Another area in which we can make immediate improvements is to assist the local emergency response groups. I call on the Minister of State to co-operate with the Minister, Dara Calleary, to make grants available through Pobal for community alert groups to stock up on emergency ESB kits for the elderly and those living alone.
More broadly, we need to move away from our overcentralised emergency response system and towards a system of regionalised emergency response and prevention. Our current system of local execution and national oversight is not efficient. Is it necessary for Dublin to begin delegating more responsibilities and competencies to the regional level? Leaving too many elements of emergency response in the hands of the national-level Government can result in fatal delays. We saw this several months ago during the tragic floods in Valencia in Spain. There, delays and confusion between Madrid and the regional government of Valencia aggravated the crisis, making it one of the deadliest in Spanish history. I fear that, with too many competences left in the hands of the national-level bodies, Ireland is waiting to experience a Valencia-level disaster of its own when the next Storm Éowyn comes. Too many local response groups that are ready to help can get stuck waiting on delayed support or permission to come down the line from Dublin. Ireland desperately needs to apply the principle of subsidiarity in its emergency response, as it does in many areas. Regional response and preparation groups will know far better what they need and will be able to work much more closely with their communities.
In short, how can the Government prevent another Storm Éowyn from happening? The two words are "preparation" and "delegation".
By the way, I also commend the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, on the fantastic work that he has done with the forestry sector since 29 January. People need to be aware of that. The Deputy is only in the job a month and he has done fantastically. We are dealing with 24,000 ha of forestry.
The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber.
I will give a tiny bit of historical perspective to this debate on Storm Éowyn. Looking around the Chamber, I do not think anybody else here is venerable enough to remember Hurricane Debbie in the middle of September 1961. I do. It was a ferocious storm. I remember standing in the clump in our front garden watching mature beech, oak and elm trees - we had elm trees in Ireland at that stage - being ripped and tossed out of the ground with gay abandon. There were 15 fatalities, but guess what? The hurricane occurred on a Saturday. The following Monday, even though the storm claimed 15 lives in Ireland, it only got one third of the front page of the Cork Examiner. What preoccupied the front page was the simultaneous tragedy of Jadotville - the loss of Irish troops and the great emergency there. The point I am making is that life goes on. Storms happen. I was not there in 1839, of course, but we had the Oíche na Gaoithe Móire - the Night of the Big Wind - when approximately 200 people were killed in Ireland. With Storm Éowyn, I believe we had one fatality, relating to a sleep apnoea machine that stopped working.
There is a danger when confronted by these natural disasters that we can get beset by national navel gazing and devolve into b'fhéidir go bhfuilimid ar tí do-athraithe mar chalóga sneachta or, as one of the denizens of the Lower House uses the language, "snowflakes". We can become snowflakey in these matters.
I commend all of the local authorities, one of which I was a member of until recently, for the fantastic work that they did. Storms occur where we are located in the north-east Atlantic and we get errant winds from the Gulf of Mexico or, as some would have it, the "Gulf of America". These things happen. Trying to manage them is the essence of the response but we should not have a national splurge on blaming people. Look positively on it. The local authorities, our services, including emergency services, and our forecasters performed amazingly well.
I would love it if we put a bit of perspective on this whole debate and just took it as a matter of fact. We live in an Atlantic climate, we get on with it and we live life, and we enjoy the fruits of our beautiful climate and withstand the outrages when they come.
I welcome the Minister of State.
The storm caused havoc throughout the country, both in our local and national areas. Unfortunately, I am in Tipperary South, where Storm Ophelia also caused significant damage. I acknowledge the work that the Government is doing nationally. I also acknowledge the work of Tipperary County Council, those who have been on the ground and the relevant agencies throughout the county and country.
These are unprecedented times. We do not know what the future will bring, but there is an opportunity for us now to become proactive more than reactive. It is a learning process for us going forward.
Ireland as a whole should not come to a standstill because of the changes in our climate. We can introduce more strategies across the counties and implement changes. I understand from when the Minister was in the House yesterday that more funding will be released for community hubs throughout the counties and for generators to be brought in so that we can provide the relevant services and supports in our communities. I have a query, though. Each county has a number of household grants, for example, housing adaptation grants, disability grants and mobility aid grants. Following the past number of storms, I have encountered numerous individuals who are medically in need of generators in their homes. It is a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, they are not in a financial position to purchase generators of the capacity required by their medical machines. Some of these people are young children. Some people are at end of life. I am looking for clarity around whether household grants for disability, home adaptation and mobility can in future include support for generators. It would give a lifeline, a sense of security and peace of mind to those individuals if they were able to apply for funding under these grant schemes, given the climate that is coming down the line.
I compliment all the small shopkeepers, community centres and local businesses that gave credit to people who wished to purchase food when this crisis happened and the card machines went down. People are so dependent on card machines. Our local shopkeepers and businesses took out a little book and wrote in credit notes for people whereby they could purchase food. That has to be recognised.
Not only did they give water, but they also gave food and credit to people, unlike some of our bigger stores which would not give people food unless they had cash in their pockets. This is the point I am making. I want to compliment our small business for what they have done. As others have said, we need to have a working area over and around ESB lines and our broadband network where we do not have trees. If this storm has taught us one thing, it is that the ash dieback situation in this country for the last number of years has not been dealt with. A lot of those trees brought down power lines. We discussed the Sitka spruce as regards our forests being flattened, but we must not forget all the ash trees that are still on the ground. Some of them that are not on the ground at the moment, because they have yet to suffer with ash dieback, will come down in future storms.
The ESB stated that the repair costs will be passed on to the consumer. We cannot accept that in this House or the Lower House, given the profits the ESB has shown for the last number of years. It has to bear that cost. It has to put in a service where it looks after its own lines. Where there is shrubbery or trees growing within a certain area that will take down these lines, it must bear the cost of removing them and managing its own power lines. We have asked farmers in ACRES to preserve the environment and everything else. The farmers in our local area came out and cleared roads for our local county council in local areas. I want to compliment our farming community because without them older people and others would not have been able to travel on our roads. In County Longford we have vast areas of forestry that have been flattened and roads closed. Our county council services - the workers on the ground - would not have gotten this cleared. A task force needs to be set up first of all. We need to have a database of what is available in every county - digger drivers, fellas that are qualified with chainsaws or farm relief, etc. - so that when something like this happens again in the future, we have a database of where to go, who is available and who is there to help. That is very important.
There was a loss of food in the storm. People saved up food and put it in fridges and freezers over the last number of years for a holy communion, for Christmas or for something else. Now, all of a sudden, all the food in those freezers has been dumped and gone to waste. Families are wondering who is going to compensate them for this and who is going to pay the burden. How are they going to restock all this? People have saved up over the last number of years by putting a bit of chicken, pork or fish in the fridge that they can take out to feed their families. There is a huge burden on them. I compliment the Minister for agriculture for making the TAMS grant available to all farmers, not only the dairy sector. There is a huge cost to the dairy sector in this, however. Farmers who were not able to milk cows and had to hire in generators, or who were not able to cool their tanks and had to dump the milk into septic tanks or slurry pits, did not get paid for it. There has been a huge cost to people in rural communities out of their own pockets all because of negligence in the ESB's service where we have not maintained or put enough into the infrastructure.
It is not a name and blame game. What I am saying is that we will get away with this because it has happened once. If this happens again and we see power outages for 14 or 15 days, people in the country will not and cannot accept it. We must learn and move on from this mistake. We must put steps in place so that it does not and should not happen again that the ESB is out for 14 or 15 days. As people have said in this Chamber, generators had to be brought in to keep up air mattresses for people who had bed sores and everything else. All I hope is that when people are getting generators, they are qualified to use them, and we do not put generators in houses that could result in carbon monoxide poisoning. A little bit of training and a little bit of thought needs to be put into this before we start handing out generators throughout the country willy-nilly.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir. Before I call the next speaker, we have a very special guest all the way from Ukraine. Dia duit. Conas atá tú? Misha is a Ukrainian Irish speaker who lives down in Kerry. He is a guest here. I thank him for being here along with his máthair, Hanna, agus his deirfiúr, Varvara. He is also here with Dónal Ó Catháin from Ballyferriter. I thank Misha so much. Gabhaim buíochas leis na cuairteoirí go léir as a bheith anseo inniu. Bainigí taitneamh as an lá. B'fhéidir go mbeidh Misha ar ais mar Sheanadóir sa Sheomra seo. I thank him for being here today. All the way from Ukraine and a great Irish speaker - he could give us all lessons. Go raibh míle maith agat.
Our next speaker is Senator Nicole Ryan. She is sharing time with Senator Collins. Is that agreed? Agreed.
It is lovely to have the Minister of State here. I will bring him back to the first week of January. In my constituency of Cork North-West, we were hit with snow, and we were one of the hardest areas that was hit. The roads were impassable and people were trapped in their homes. In Rockchapel, people had to melt snow for water. This continued for a week for them. Why is it that year after year Ireland, rural Ireland especially, is expected to make do with situations of adverse weather reactions? We saw it again with Storm Éowyn. Power was knocked out for days - we have all talked about it - water infrastructure failed, and communications were down. Instead of seeing an immediate, co-ordinated Government response, we saw local communities pick up the slack.
I commend every single person, as everybody has echoed in this House, including the volunteers, local radio stations, council workers and ESB crews, who worked really tirelessly around the dangerous conditions to restore services for people. However, community spirit alone should not have to be the solution for the Government's inaction. We talk about taking learnings from Storm Éowyn, but what learnings did we take from Storm Ophelia in 2017? I am sure a conversation along these lines was had previously. We keep talking about these learnings, but when are we going to implement them? We cannot keep treating each storm like an unprecedented once-in-a-lifetime event. I want to make it clear that the loss of life, whether it is 100 or 50 people or one person, is still a loss of life and it is unacceptable. The Government must act accordingly because the reality is that if we all did our jobs properly, people would not be suffering like they are today.
I welcome the Minister of State. I will highlight a couple of things, the first of which is that rural Ireland is always treated disproportionately when it comes to infrastructure. We tend to have more forestry where the trees will fall. County Limerick was not that badly affected - it sounds awful to say it - because in certain parts, we got our power back within five days. I know it was much worse up the country. However, we have to remember that this storm came off the back of a previous storm that caused people to have to spend over a week with no electricity and no water, and were unable to leave their houses because there was so much snow. One of the issues raised with me was the plight of vulnerable residents who were not vulnerable enough to warrant hospitalisation. CPAP machines for sleep apnoea would have been a big issue. If possible, we should have a register of vulnerable older people - an extension of what the Government did during Covid - that could be used during the increasing number of storms I am sure we are going to get. When our electricity clicks on and off constantly throughout the year, the list of patients who need things like CPAP machines could be consulted to see if they need get battery packs, etc. Even though it is not always a life-threatening illness, it can be and it can be debilitating to people who have it. We might look at putting a list together, perhaps by getting GPs to send it in centrally and working off the list that was already there for Covid.
By order of the House, the Minister must be called to speak at 3.20 p.m. I am conscious that people should get to speak. We are trying to get everybody in. Senators Harmon, Stephenson, McCarthy, Sarah O'Reilly and Duffy have approximately two minutes apiece. If they could stick to that, I would be very grateful. Anois, Senator Duffy.
I welcome the Minister of State and thank the front-line personnel throughout the country who responded very quickly to the extreme weather event that affected so many. I offer condolences to Kacper Dudek's family on his tragic passing and on the illnesses and bereavements caused by the storm.
If ever there was a case for local government reform, Storm Éowyn has demonstrated it. The orbits of the ESB and Uisce Éireann need to be interlinked with local government and councils. They cannot be operating in silos. We need policies based on working for the common good and the common interest, including getting water or electricity back to homes across the country.
Eir has an awful lot to answer for. Across my constituency of Mayo, we still have homes without phone or Internet services. It is disgraceful and goes back to the lack of local representation and input from councillors on the ground to connect with semi-State bodies. The regulator needs to look at that.
Fire stations in County Mayo were not even placed on standby, meaning the personnel and crew of one station alone had to travel through the night and the storm from nine different locations in response to calls as opposed to being based in the station ready to respond to call-outs. That put lives at risk. There should be a direct learning from that so that, when there is a red alert, crews are on standby in the station. We need to put our local representatives back at the centre of this so they can respond immediately. It took days and days for things to escalate. We need to bring semi-States like Uisce Éireann, the ESB and Eir within the orbit of local authorities so councillors on the ground can solve it. Local decisions should not be escalated into Deputies and Senators' responsibilities.
I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Storm Éowyn was a particular type of storm in terms of wind. We have had other types of storms, particularly in recent years. This is becoming part of our daily life and of the calendar year. There is often a series of storms. With climate chaos, this is something we have to be prepared for. We are probably the last generation of humans on this planet who will experience some semblance of normality in terms of weather and climate. Scientists are telling us that, the way things are going, there will be more storms and adverse weather conditions that we need to prepare for.
I want to speak about Cork city. The word "Corcaigh" comes from "corcach", which means "marsh". Essentially, it was built on marshland and is surrounded by water. Cork is vulnerable to flooding, as many cities and coastal areas in Ireland are. Ireland needs a proper flood prevention system, particularly in Cork. We need to consider how we look after our rivers, too. The practice of dredging does not tend to work in the long term, so we need more natural solutions. I am thinking of River Glasheen in Cork, for example, which my neighbours have been adversely affected by. In places like Riverview Estate and Clashduv Estate, they fear when they hear any rain warnings what will happen to them because they have had a situation where water came halfway up their doors. This poses a major issue in terms of insurance for properties and businesses. We need localised flooding plans, almost on a street-by-street basis. In places like Douglas Street in Cork, businesses are adversely affected. Local authorities need to be funded properly to do the excellent work they do, which includes making sure drains are cleared regularly across the city.
I thank the Minister of State for attending. We have heard the phrases "once in a lifetime storm" and "unprecedented extreme weather event" so many times in recent years. We know these are not isolated incidents. For children growing up today, this is just the norm and their new reality. What was once considered rare is now a frequent weather event. All of us in this room acknowledge that climate change is driving that. We have to take that into account when planning and building resiliency in communities. For children and young people growing up today, there is a sense of fear for the future. There is worry and a sense of hopelessness. We need to take action to redress that and build resiliency.
The warming planet means more unpredictable weather patterns. This is not just bad luck; it is a direct consequence of climate change. We have heard from others that weather events happen all the time but we are having more of them.
Communities across Ireland are being affected but rural communities are disproportionately affected. Rural communities are being left behind amid a range of issues they are facing: power cuts lasting weeks; impassable roads; elderly residents; and people who are sick and not getting the support they need. In my area on the Carlow-Kilkenny border, the Defence Forces were brought up for a resident during the snow storm. We need to be proactive rather than reactive. I feel like we are taking a reactive approach all of the time to these incidents. We have heard about fixing telecommunication lines. We need to sort out our farmers, who are bearing the brunt and on the coalface of climate change. We need to support them to develop resiliency and local climate change adaption projects.
Senator Brady mentioned the ESB. That was an important point. We should not be pushing the fixing of this onto consumers. That is not a credible option or solution.
I thank the Minister of State for being here. It is concerning when I hear my colleagues talking about people only being reconnected today and yesterday even though the storm occurred on 21 January. That is concerning, but great thanks must go out to the emergency workers in the ESB, Irish Water and local councils who have been on the ground since the storm hit. Their work embodies the spirit of public service.
However, in the wake of Storm Éowyn, we must ask whether we could have done more. I believe we could. Could we have responded faster and been better prepared? While we cannot control the weather, though the forecasting was bang-on, we can control how we plan for the next extreme event that will come across our radar.
One of my concerns is the impact, already mentioned by my colleague, of power outages on small and medium-size businesses with credit card machines, etc. They had no backup or generator, so they suffered significant losses due to the prolonged outages. We must explore better ways to make them more resilient to storms. It could mean providing secure alternative power sources. Our neighbours in Europe brought over generators and so on as contingency plans but we need to take proactive measures so businesses can withstand such storms effectively.
Another matter that has been mentioned is the urgent need for community response infrastructure, or community hubs as such. These are safe places that could be equipped with emergency power and essential water supplies. This needs to be seriously considered by the Minister of State. Government-funded generators for these hubs would ensure people in rural areas are not left isolated and vulnerable. In other countries satellite systems such as Starlink provide emergency communications. This point has been mentioned. It is time for Ireland to explore such alternatives to guarantee communities remain connected.
Storm Éowyn tested us but it showed communities sticking together, and there is strength in that. We need to work better to build a more adaptable Ireland, one that does not just react to storms, but is ready for them.
I thank the Minister of State for coming in to listen to us today. When Storm Éowyn happened the people in my constituency were hit really hard. There was loss of connectivity, electricity, water, as well as fuel shortages and a total blackout in my area. An 84 year old man looking after his 83 year old wife with dementia could not call for help because there was no network coverage. They had no power, water, or heat and no way to cook. His wife stopped drinking water because she did not want to use the bathroom as there was no water to flush the toilet. As a result of this, she became severely dehydrated and developed sepsis. Vulnerable people were left isolated and alone, often with no way to reach out for help. They had no panic buttons and no one was checking in on them. I agree with some of my colleagues who spoke about the need to address vulnerable people in our areas and also about hot food, which was a big issue in my area too.
This kind of power outage has been happening in Leitrim and west Cavan for years and people there have been shouting very loudly about it but nobody took any notice until now. It is good that we are going to address it now. Some people in my area were lucky enough to have generators but they ran out of fuel after five days. The filling stations in my area were not pumping fuel because they had no electricity so unless people had stored fuel, they would have run out. Unless they had a transistor or car radio, they would have had no way of finding out where there was fuel available. In order to get fuel, people would have had to have fuel in their cars. I know people who were travelling 40 minutes to Navan to get fuel for their generators. That is how bad it was in our area.
I want to bring up the issue of cash as well. It was really highlighted that the Government needs to do more to protect cash and the use of cash. When power was lost, shops that could open could not accept card payments. The move towards a completely cashless society does not allow for these environmental disasters, so that needs to be looked at. I want to thank my local shop, Supervalu, which opened its doors, provided hot water and allowed people to charge their devices.
Coillte also has to be taken to task in relation to Cavan, west Cavan and Leitrim given the number of issues that arose because of fallen forestry and corridors that were not maintained. The irresponsible and reckless planting by Coillte was disastrous. There must be serious monitoring, control and sanctioning of Coillte for irresponsibly and recklessly planting close to power lines. We need to ensure that the planting corridors are widened and that regulations are being observed by Coillte.
Before I call on the Minister of State to respond, I want to welcome Deputy Cormac Devlin and members of the Ukrainian community in Ireland who are in Leinster House today on the occasion of the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. Before our guests' arrival today, we had a minute's silence to mark that third anniversary. We hope that we will mark no more anniversaries of the invasion and that they will be restored to their country and the borders that they had three years ago.
I also welcome Deputy Devlin and assure his Ukrainian guests that they are in good hands today. Our thoughts are with them on the third anniversary.
I thank Senators for their kind words of welcome. This is my first time addressing the Seanad and I really appreciate the kind welcome. I have listened to the debate and engagement which has been really interesting, particularly the contributions of Senators from the areas that were worst impacted. Down in west Cork, thankfully, for a change we did not get hit by the brunt of it but I know that areas right across Galway, the midlands and the north west were devastated so it was important to hear that feedback.
I am glad that the issue of climate change and climate breakdown was brought up by Senators Harmon, Stephenson and Higgins because it is important that we understand the source of this and why it is happening. I tend to agree with Senator Higgins in terms of the approach to trees along roadsides. The ESB has it within its gift, and within the law, to act where it sees that trees may impact power lines or may present a safety concern. However, I do not agree that we should just devastate our roadsides and chop down every tree along them because, as Senator Higgins quite rightly pointed out, there are not that many areas of woodland left in Ireland and in some places the only ones left are along roadsides so there has to be a balanced approach.
Senator Rabbitte spoke about Galway and the devastation there. She is correct to say that we need a standardised approach to who can use chainsaws. What I loved about the experience was that there was a cross-local authority response with staff and crews from other local authorities helping those that were worst impacted. We saw a crew from Finglas, for example, go all the way to Cavan to help there. That is something that we need to see more of.
I disagree with many of Senator Scahill's criticisms of the response but certainly in the areas of broadband and communications we absolutely could have and should have done better. There are certainly lessons to be learned there. Senator Comyn made an interesting point about the deaths during the night of the big wind. A lot of this is related to the fact that these early warning systems do work. If we did not have those systems in place, we would have had further loss of life, unfortunately. To pick up on the Senator's point, back in those days we did not have the early warning systems or the preparation that we have now. Senator Goldsboro's idea of extending the housing adaptation grant scheme to include generators certainly has merit and is something that I will speak further about with the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins.
We hear the terms "once in a lifetime" and "unprecedented" quite a lot but in many ways this storm was just so. We have never before seen the wind speeds that were experienced off the west coast. We have never seen such a number of houses without power. It was twice the previous record. It is very hard to prepare for experiences like this but I appreciate that there must be learning. We must learn from this and prepare because we know that such events are going to become more regular.
In terms of the main response, there are systems and plans in place to manage severe weather and other incidents and to co-ordinate a whole-of-government response. They have been used successfully before and they work. These well-rehearsed response measures that were in place and were utilised made for an effective cross-sectoral and cross-government collaboration that fully supported the immense efforts of all of the local authorities, the principal response agencies, the Defence Forces and all utilities. I must also mention the hospital staff who slept in on Thursday night in order to be there for patients. I also commend the rapid response by local authorities, ESB Networks, Uisce Éireann and others, following Storm Éowyn. This response, supported by the Defence Forces, Government agencies, the Civil Defence, and voluntary emergency services working with community volunteers, NGOs and community organisations, is an example of the collaborative approach we have in place to ensure a rapid response during such events. The task of maintaining power and water supplies as well as telecommunication services - the critical infrastructure on which society depends - falls to the critical infrastructure operators. These organisations are core partners in the emergency management sphere and attend the national emergency co-ordination group along with their respective parent Departments, where their assessment of the threat, as well as their situation reports on damage and restoration efforts are key points of information. Once the threat to life from Storm Éowyn had passed, all efforts of the national emergency co-ordination group were focused on supporting ESB Networks and Uisce Éireann to restore power and water supplies. While the vast majority of the country is reconnected to power and water and has connectivity, the Government is conscious that no one should be left behind and that some are still experiencing connectivity disruptions. Accordingly, a cross-departmental recovery group has been established and will continue the work of the national emergency co-ordination group to co-ordinate intensive efforts to restore telecommunications and broadband connectivity to those who continue to experience outages.
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. This will include a continuing focus on planning for such events, business continuity management and building resilience and readiness across all sectors. My Government colleague, the Minister for environment, climate and communications, Deputy O'Brien, met representatives from the CRU, ESB and ESB Networks on 31 January to discuss the Storm Éowyn response, the impact on customers, immediate actions to increase the resilience of the electricity grid and planned grid enhancements to the end of 2030.
Following on from this meeting, specific energy related actions have been prioritised to be delivered once the initial storm response has been completed. These include an enhanced winter 2025 grid resilience plan, a full review by ESB Networks and by the CRU of the planned grid enhancement and the priorities within the next five years. A final decision on the CRU strategic workforce plan 2025-2027 is to be taken by the end of quarter 1 of 2025. The Government has previously approved a €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 and the onshore grid with scope to raise this to €13.4 billion. A final decision on this is expected from the CRU in 2025. This includes an increase in spending on asset management, underground cables and the replacement of ageing overhead lies and poles. ESB Networks plans to massively scale up its timber cutting programme.
Uisce Éireann is committed to protecting and future-proofing Ireland's water infrastructure. Although pre-emptive actions were taken with reservoir levels and 420 permanent and over 600 mobile generators were used to mitigate the impact of Storm Éowyn, they will have a post incident review providing opportunities for improvement and further resilience. As part of this review, Uisce Éireann will examine requirements for additional generators and alternative power solutions and will continue to work with all relevant Government Departments and State agencies to ensure enhanced levels of readiness for extreme weather events in future.
As previously stated, the Government continues to support those severely impacted, including individuals, families, communities, businesses, and sports clubs through the Department of Social Protection humanitarian assistance scheme. The programme for Government includes a commitment to develop an extreme weather event assistance scheme for homes, community organisations, farmers and businesses which will be brought forward as a matter of priority. To date, the community welfare service has issued more than 5,000 stage one payments, totalling almost €1 million, to people who, at the time their application was approved, did not have any power or water supply during Storm Éowyn. The service is working closely with local service directors in local authorities and community welfare officers are visiting people in their homes, where necessary, to provide support. The Department of Social Protection's community welfare service was also represented in the emergency response hub, set up by the local authorities.
The programme for Government commits to developing an extreme weather event assistance scheme for homes, community organisations, farmers, and businesses. Work on the development of this new scheme will commence as a matter of priority through the relevant senior officials' group.
The estimated effect of Storm Éowyn on telecom networks was the largest in ComReg recorded history. A significant number of outages experienced on the telecom networks were due to the lack of power to fixed and mobile infrastructure. While many key sites had battery back up to maintain services, once battery capacity was exhausted, some network areas would have experienced outages. The deployment of generators maintained connectivity at core sites across the country. At peak, over 281,000, or 10%, of fixed broadband customers were completely without services. Also, a peak of 2 million, or 35%, of mobile customers experienced some level of degradation of service. ComReg has monitored the situation and liaised with operators throughout Storm Éowyn and the repair operation, receiving regular reports on restoration of services and updating the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Like all other sectors, telecommunications oversight and resilience will be reviewed as part of the overall review learnings for Storm Éowyn.
The Office of Emergency Planning has established a critical infrastructure committee to oversee the EU critical infrastructure resilience directive. The OEP has engaged with regulators and established national competent authorities to reinforce compliance with these new regulations across the public sector and semi-State organisations with an emphasis on cross cutting and integrated forward planning. This includes ESB Networks and Uisce Éireann to improve infrastructure resilience, regular reviews and updates to improve resilience measures and aligning preventative measures and resilience across all measures and key sectors.
We believe the Government's response was timely given the circumstances and every effort was made to minimise disruption to all those effected, to the greatest degree possible.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 3.34 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 4 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 3.34 p.m. and resumed at 4 p.m.