People need “pounds, shillings and pence” rather than taskforces to deal with the impact of Storm Éowyn on local communities, according to Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice.
The Roscommon-Galway TD also said 95 per cent of the damage he had seen was due to fallen trees and he called for a tree-free corridor of 35m from transmission lines in forests and 30m on roads.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil he said the cost of the storm had been “huge” and “people with underlying health conditions, those needing hoists, people with disabilities, people with sleep apnoea machines” were all badly affected by power outages.
“There was absolutely no communication because phone lines were down. And it was as if we didn’t exist for those few days.”
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People need ‘pounds, shillings and pence’ for Storm Éowyn damage, not taskforces, Dáil hears
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Tánaiste Simon Harris said the storm was “still a very real issue” with 12,000 premises still without electricity and “this is going on a very long time”.
He also said the Government is “considering all options” in relation to trees. The ESB had considerable powers in relation to this and it would consider if it needed any further powers.
Mr Harris said more than €800,000 in humanitarian assistance had been paid out to some 4,000 claimants. There were “absolutely lessons to be learned by the ESB, Uisce Éireann and the Government”, he added.
Earlier, Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan told the Dáil that all telecoms operators will have to give commitments on adaptation plans to “build further resilience across all networks”.
He said he will meet the main telecoms chief executives in the wake of Storm Éowyn, which caused major phone and online disruption across the country.
They will discuss “the learnings from the storm and how to improve resilience of telecoms networks”. He will also meet the regulator ComReg for its “insights on how the storm emergency was managed and how network can be made resilient into the future”.
Speaking during the ongoing debate on the impact of Storm Éowynm he said a draft sectoral adaptation plan will be drafted by the summer and finalised by the autumn.
Minister of State for Community Development Jerry Buttimer told the Dáil the chief executive of ESB Networks, Paddy Hayes, should “reflect” on his “inappropriate” comment on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne that the cost of repairs for Storm Éowyn was “likely” to be passed on to customers.
A 95-year-old woman in Co Longford remained without electricity almost two weeks after the storm, according to Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy. He said he had spoken to the woman on Wednesday when she entered her 13th day without electricity.
“A compensation scheme must be put in place for people without power,” he said. “The humanitarian assistance scheme must be made available for everyone affected by the storm,” he said, adding businesses and farmers require additional direct support.
Mr Carrigy said 89 per cent of homes and businesses in Longford had power outages as a result of the storm, while his party colleague Keira Keogh said that “in Mayo 98 per cent of power was lost leaving just 600 customers out of 40,000,” with electricity.
Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith said he had raised many times the failure of Coillte and private forest plantation owners to maintain forests to a proper standard and to ensure “ESB transmission line corridors are free of obstacles”.
Social Democrats Dublin Northwest TD Rory Hearne said rural areas were not the only places affected. In Glasnevin and Santry in his constituency, people including vulnerable adults and families had no power for a number of days when trees fell on electricity lines.
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