Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Ministers are about 12 days too late. We are having statements on the Government response to a storm that happened 12 days ago, and the Ministers return here as the vast majority of homes are reconnected and, for many, the outages are over. Shame on this Government for ignoring the call I made two days after the storm that the Government should have come here to answer the questions and to put the supports in place much more quickly than they were put in place. The Taoiseach's response was to come down to County Roscommon to get his photograph taken and then to tell us on this side of the House that we were playing politics. I have been in this House since 2020 and I have never played politics on any issue, ever. I called for the Dáil to return because it was the right thing to do, and it was on the back of the anger, the anguish and the pain that was felt by the people of Roscommon and Galway who I am here to represent. This Government has let those people down. It took eight days for the Government to announce that costs for accommodation would be covered. Even though it took eight days, the Government still managed to get it wrong. One of the first questions I was asked was, "I have no money to pay upfront for three or four nights' accommodation. What am I supposed to do?" I have had to say: "I will email the Minister and I might get a reply tomorrow or next week and I will let you know, and you just wait." It is not good enough and not acceptable.

There are two existing humanitarian assistance scheme forms. This scheme has been in place for quite some time; it is not something the Government put together in a hurry. It would not want to be, given the time it has taken to get us to this point. There have been mixed messages repeatedly in terms of these support payments and what they are actually for. I have constituents who filled in the form. One handed it in to a social welfare office on behalf of her elderly parents. She was told her elderly parents needed to come in and present themselves. Another rang the Department phone line over the weekend and was told the HAS1 form was means tested, even though it is not. The means test has been suspended. Another was told she could not apply because her power was back - again, not correct. That is before we get to the forms at all. I welcome the clarification and confirmation from the Minister, Dara Calleary, today. Those people who got cheques by post for €150 have panicked because that does not even come close to covering their costs. It is so important that we communicate to people, that they get a letter to explain to them: "This is for your immediate need - food etc. More will follow where you have more costs." It is so important that we communicate that because there has been an awful lot of confusion. I have dealt with people who have spent so much money over the last six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11 days, they are worried about how they are going to afford to pay their mortgage this month. That is the level of cost this has caused for so many households.

There has also been confusion in terms of farmers and the HAS2 form and what is covered under it. I rang the Department phone line on Sunday for somebody. I was told that sheds - turf sheds etc. - are covered but that anything for agricultural use is not.

We need clarification. Farmers need clarification on that.

I commend the ESB staff on the ground, the Uisce Éireann staff on the ground and the local authorities. I thank each and every one of them for the work they continue to do, and sometimes in very difficult conditions. I also commend all of the communities who stepped up, who set up the hubs and who have done so much in recent days, especially those across Roscommon and Galway. I have never been prouder to represent them here in this House. Yesterday, I listened to the CEO of the ESB on the radio. He was asked about compensation and supports for his customers and his response was, "No, no, no." It was as if he almost felt he would give them enough by restoring the power for them and that would be good enough. It was almost like it was a favour to provide a service that customers are paying for, and will pay for regardless of whether they have the service. That was the response. The Government needs to be pushing hard on the ESB. The PSO levy and the standing charges should be suspended for any customer who was without power for whatever length or period it was. Customers should receive a goodwill payment from the ESB. The company is making record profits. Its last full year of profit, 2023, was €868 million. It is about time they put their hands in their pockets for the people who have been left without electricity for all of this time, and especially those who have been, and remain, without power today.

There are so many more issues to raise. Homes without chimneys have been put in a particularly vulnerable situation, not only without electricity but also being cold. We have learned that the vulnerable customers register - a list of 97,000 people - is meaningless when it comes to a storm. People who rely on medical devices to live and devices to move, people in wheelchairs and people with electric beds were left at sea during this storm. They are registered as vulnerable but it means nothing. I ask the ESB to look at providing generators to all those on its vulnerable customers list and to do so ahead of any future storm because those vulnerable customers need to be protected. I ask insurance companies to give a guarantee that they will not raise premiums on the back of claims made at the end of all of this. Forestry is a major issue across Roscommon, Leitrim and other parts of the west. It is an unavoidable mess. The ESB needs an urgent action plan in terms of protecting its power lines. The wayleaves are in place in the vast majority of cases for it to do so but it has not done so.

The worst part of the Dáil not being recalled last week - let us face it, we have had 13 weeks of no Dáil business - was the position we were put in. We had to say to people with genuine questions, concerns and queries about supports that we would contact the Minister or the Department and come back to them when we got a reply. We had to leave those people there. It has been unacceptable. I cannot imagine another emergency in this State that would impact so many people where the Dáil would not sit. It has been totally unacceptable. Most of the time, people in the west and north west feel forgotten about and left behind. That is exactly what this Government did to them last week. I would say that is the message from the people in Roscommon-Galway and the people I represent.

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