IRELAND: The ESB has said that it is "highly unlikely" that a blackout such as the one that occurred in the United States on Thursday could happen in Ireland.
"In the 76 years of ESB's history, there has never been any total system failure," said Mr Kieran O'Brien, managing director of the ESB National Grid. However, he added that the possibility of something similar happening here could not be ruled out.
The grid system which operates in Ireland is similar to the one which is used internationally, including the US.
"On all power systems, it is not possible to say that no fault of this nature could ever occur, although very strong procedures are in place to prevent this," Mr O'Brien said.
Among these procedures were back-up systems and a high degree of local expertise, which had developed out of Ireland's historical position of generating its own power supply and not being dependent on connection to a system outside the country.
Mr O'Brien said it was too early to speculate on what had set off the blackout in the US, but the ESB was monitoring reports and it would carefully note the results of any investigations.
Although it was surprising that such a widespread power cut could happen in the US given the precautions which were in place in advanced power systems, it was not unprecedented. He cited large-scale electricity blackouts in Denmark last December and in Malaysia in 1996.