Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 November 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy

Review of Storm Éowyn and Storm Preparedness: Discussion

2:00 am

Mr. Brian Brady:

I will answer part of that. That would be lovely if we could achieve it. However, we are at full employment in the timber cutting capacity we have today, and that is almost in its entirety to provide safety clearance of the lines. To cut all diseased and damaged trees within falling distance of all electricity lines will take a ferocious amount of cutters and cost to do. I say that in the context of, and to balance what I am saying about, the emergency programme we have running at the moment in the worst affected areas after the storm. In the context of other utilities, for example in the UK, it is a statutory obligation to clear the lines for safety clearance similar to what we do. However, it is not for resilience clearance of falling distance trees. That is not obligatory.

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