Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank ESB Networks and Irish Water for their response to what was an extraordinary weather event. My understanding is that there are fewer than 50 houses without water as a result of Storm Ophelia. There were tens of thousands that did not have water at one point. Likewise, in terms of ESB connections, at one point, up to 350,000 households had no power. It is now down to somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 with most of them in the Cork area. There were co-ordination efforts across Government and Government Departments and through Irish Water and ESB Networks. Of course, we will test to make sure we can improve it for the next time if it should happen again but we should recognise the efforts that have been made.

See this speech in context