Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Browne, for opening the discussion on the recent unprecedented storm. The Minister has focused on the response to the storm from a whole-of-government perspective and I will focus my remarks on the impact this storm had on the electricity network.

Before I turn to that impact, I acknowledge that, as of this morning, 18,000 customers still remain without power. The priority for this Government has been and remains to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens by assisting in the restoration of power to all as quickly and as safely as possible. We also need to continue to provide support to vulnerable individuals who are without power. I know that colleagues in ESB Networks are working with An Garda Síochána, the HSE, other Departments, such as the Department of Social Protection, local authorities and agencies to ensure every vulnerable customer gets assistance.

As the Minister, Deputy Browne, said, Ireland experienced an unprecedented storm, one that none of us has seen in our lifetime, that led to damaging, dangerous and destructive wind gusts, causing widespread power outages on our distribution system. Reports from ESB Networks indicate that the worst affected counties were Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Longford, Cavan, Leitrim and Sligo. In parts, the electricity grid has been destroyed, requiring crews to replace more than 3,000 poles and hang 900 km of new conductor cable. At the peak, 768,000 customers were without electricity supply. As mentioned, thanks to the efforts of ESB Networks crews since the storm occurred, this number was down to 18,000 this morning. That means power has been restored for a total of 750,000 customers. I know, however, and all of us know, that some customers are still without power for nearly two weeks, and in some areas, due to the scale of the damage to the electricity grid, the work has been incredibly intricate and difficult. I assure the House and our citizens without power that every effort is being made to restore electricity to these remaining customers as soon as possible.

Approximately 3,000 ESB Networks crew members, contractors and the crews who came to assist us from Britain, France, Finland, Germany, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands have worked non-stop since 24 January to restore power to customers as quickly and as safely as possible. I have, and will continue to engage directly with ESB Networks and the ESB to ensure they have the full support of the State to respond to the storm. ESB Networks has also been instrumental through the work of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group subgroup on infrastructure in restoring critical services and assisting in the restoration of services such as telecommunications and water impacted by the widespread outages. Furthermore, ESB Networks is engaging with An Garda Síochána, the HSE, the Defence Forces and the subgroup on humanitarian support to ensure vulnerable customers are prioritised and communicated with. All sectors need to understand who their vulnerable customers are and for the relevant agencies and Departments to work together to ensure there is a co-ordinated approach to dealing with this cohort.

Of course, learnings will emerge during the course of the review of the storm response by colleagues in the Minister, Deputy Browne's Department, my own Department and across government. I will fully support this review process. While there will be areas for the whole of Government and relevant agencies to consider, there are also specific learnings for the electricity system that have emerged already. On Friday, 31 January, I met again with representatives from the ESB, ESB Networks and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to discuss increasing the resilience of the system once the immediate impact of the storm has passed. I assure the House that I have received assurances from ESB Networks that it is taking all actions necessary to restore power to customers. Both the CRU and ESB Networks confirmed that there are no financial barriers or budget constraints impacting on the Storm Éowyn response, as the regulatory regime makes full provision for force majeure events. A number of actions emerged from these discussions, and I outlined these earlier today in a memo to Government which was considered this morning.

First, an enhanced winter 2025 grid resilience plan is to be developed within one month. It is to be implemented by ESB Networks between March and October of this year. This is increasingly important in the wake of a trend that we are now seeing of increasing strength of storms crossing Ireland, which points to the need for an increased focus on ensuring the resilience of the electricity network to more powerful storms. ESB Networks has already identified some initial actions in this regard. For the information of the House, I will summarise them briefly. It is looking at substantially increasing the materials or stockholding of spare parts for the electricity network. Spare parts and materials are already held, but we are reviewing that inventory to see what additional stock would need to be held in reserve. It includes forestry corridors, as the Taoiseach has mentioned earlier today, including action this year to address overhead line corridors in advance of the winter in 2025 to 2026. It is also looking at the identification and acceleration of specific, near-term projects that would improve resilience this year, and to progress projects that are already identified in this area under Price Review 6, PR6. That is effectively bringing forward any projects that we can, which are in the 2026-2030 ESB investment programme, to see which one of those can be brought forward into this year, and a review of the potential support available from other electricity network companies across Europe. Our crews have assisted our European colleagues and colleagues in Britain following storms there, and we are grateful for the support we receive, but we need to review that further.

Second, I am requesting a full review by ESB Networks and CRU by the end of quarter 1 of the planned grid enhancement and priorities developed by ESB Networks under Price Review 6, which I just mentioned. This runs from 2026 to 2030 and is an investment of €13.4 billion in capital across that period. That builds on a significant investment of €5.5 billion in the grid network between 2021 and 2025. The ESB, as I mentioned, is also working on a programme to progress projects and accelerate timelines where possible. The PR6 business plan also includes investment in network resilience and climate adaptation. This will now need to be reviewed in the aftermath of the storm, and I have requested that this be done - and it will be done - to identify those specific projects and investments that are needed to future-proof Ireland's energy grid and to adapt to the challenges of climate change. It is essential that companies and regulators responsible for protecting our citizens are appropriately resourced to deliver. Both ESB Networks and CRU have plans to significantly increase their workforces over the coming year, and I will work closely with both the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and the Minister, Deputy Browne, in this regard.

I acknowledge the efforts of the 3,000 workers across ESB Networks, contractors from the countries I have mentioned, our colleagues in Europe and Britain, and extend my thanks and appreciation to them for the work that they are doing and have done to restore power to the country. I assure colleagues regarding the investment for the remainder of this year that we will look at expediting projects where we can with a particular focus on vegetation and forestry corridors.

Our main focus over the course of the remainder of this week and into early next week, however, is restoring power to those who still do not have electricity. That remains our main focus in this regard.

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