Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that we are having this debate but it should have happened last week. There is no doubt in my mind that if this had happened in Dublin, the Dáil would have sat as a matter of urgency last week. It is outrageous that it did not.

I recognise the immense work that was done by those on the ground, those who worked tirelessly to get water and electricity back, and those who are continuing to do very difficult work on tough terrain, especially given that much of our infrastructure was already completely substandard. I also recognise the incredible work done by communities who came together to help each other and assist in cases of emergency, and continue to do so. What people have suffered over the past two weeks - almost - can only be described as an absolute emergency. Many areas in Galway did not have, and certain areas still do not have, water, electricity, functioning mobile phone networks and broadband. Most fundamentally, they did not have access to 999 calls. That is a health, safety and medical emergency. Health centres located over an hour and a half from Galway city were not prioritised. They had no electricity. Medication and vaccines had to be dumped. There was no way for vulnerable people to contact their health centres and there was no way for doctors to contact hospitals, pharmacies or anyone in the outside world. To me, that is terrifying. A family tried to ring 999 in a medical emergency but could not do so because the 999 call was not working. They were completely cut off, with no help. When a generator went on fire, no one could contact the fire brigade. People had to physically run to a fireman who they knew for assistance. One public health nurse told me that she was checking on a man in his 80s in her community. The man had not left his bed in his house, because the house was so cold, for over a week. He had no electricity or heat. She told me that when she touched his hand, she had touched warmer corpses. We are failing our vulnerable and older people. We are failing our newborn babies who left hospitals to go to their new homes that did not have water or electricity. Those with sleep apnoea could not use their machines and had to go to accident and emergency services.

Pensions and other social welfare payments could not be accessed because post offices could not open. This was at a time when people had increased costs due to lack of power and at a time when people were already living week to week. We need to have a plan for that in the future.

I have heard suggestions from the Government that this was a once-in-a-lifetime storm. Many people had never heard of any kind of storm like that. We understand that, but it was not the first time this happened in places such as Conamara. In November, there was a two-week period when people had no access to phone or broadband services and did not have electricity for a period of time. When they hear people say that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but they know it is happening to them on a regular basis, they feel like they are not listened to, they are not heard and nobody knows what is happening.

In our roles as public representatives and in our clinics, we all hear difficult stories, some of which haunt us more than others. I will read one such story to the House:

Storm Darragh was not that long ago and we were left without power for 4 or 5 days. My father sat in the house trying to keep warm until the heating could be used again. During these days my father got pneumonia and ended up in hospital where he died... My mother is dealing with the grief of losing her husband and now we have had to repair our roof and need to dry out a room that has water damage done to it.

That is the real-life impact. We all realise how horrific that is. That is why we all need to work together to come up with key and urgent solutions for when this happens again because it will happen again and it is still impacting people out there.

All health centres need to have a generator. That needs to be an immediate priority. They need to have access to satellite phones so that at least in those health centres, people can access electricity and can access a phone. All water pumps need to have generators as well. We cannot have a situation where people cannot access water, especially for newborn babies who cannot use the store-bought water. We need to know exactly where vulnerable people are and how we can help them. Exactly how we can help them is crucial because it is life or death for these people.

A massive job of work needs to be done to invest in basic infrastructure because without such investment, we do not have basic services. That is a massive job of work. We need to have the short-term quick solutions, such as those generators and the satellite phones, but we also need to invest in basic infrastructure. The poles are literally rotting. They are just breaking. The lack of investment that has happened is crazy. I really hope the Government listens to this.

Communication has been very poor. People understand that it was a bad storm but communication has been particularly poor. People do not know what services they can access. They do not know what supports they can access. Much of the time, because the Dáil was not sitting, we did not know what services could be accessed. Businesses do not know what is going on and people really need help.

Tá a fhios agam go raibh an tAire amuigh i gConamara le linn na stoirme seo. Tá a fhios agam go raibh sé ag labhairt le daoine agus gur chonaic sé cé chomh dona is atá agus a bhí sé. An rud is mó atá mé ag iarraidh a rá go soiléir anseo ná go raibh sé chomh huafásach sin do dhaoine. Bhí daoine préachta leis an bhfuacht. Ní raibh uisce acu. Níl uisce acu fós. Níl leictreachas acu. Táthar ag rá leo go mbeidh leictreachas acu lá éigint. Bhí sé ceaptha a bheith aréir nó anocht, ach anois tá sé le bheith acu an tseachtain seo chugainn. Teastaíonn an infheistíocht chuí sa bhuninfreastruchtúr ionas go bhfuil na bunseirbhísí ag daoine. Tógfaidh sé sin am agus go leor airgid ach tá sé sin ag teastáil. Ní fiú a rá i gceann bliana arís, nó i gceann coicíse, nach raibh muid ag súil leis seo. Teastaíonn an plean sin agus an plean fadtéarmach agus caithfimid ar fad oibriú le chéile ar an gceist sin.

Chomh maith leis sin, teastaíonn gineadóirí ó chuile ionad sláinte. Tá fhios ag an Aire ó bheith amuigh i gConamara cé chomh fada amach is atá siad ón ospidéal. Mura bhfuil siad in ann glaoch a chur ar 999 agus dul i dteagmháil leis an ionad sláinte, céard gur féidir leo a dhéanamh? Teastaíonn gineadóirí agus fóin satailíte ó na hionaid sláinte sin. Tá gá le gineadóirí le haghaidh na pumpaí uisce ionas go mbeidh ar a laghad uisce ag daoine. Tá sé sin fíorthábhachtach.

Tá sé soiléir ón mhéid atá tarlaithe le coicís anuas cé chomh deacair is atá cúrsaí do dhaoine áirithe, daoine leochaileacha ach go háirithe. Teastaíonn liosta soiléir dóibh siúd atá cabhair uathu, agus liosta den mhéid gur féidir linn a dhéanamh do na daoine sin. I ndáiríre, is iad na príomhrudaí a chaithfidh tarlú ná go mbeidh gineadóirí ann agus go mbeidh infheistíocht sa bhuninfrastruchtúr. Ní hé seo an chéad uair ar tharla sé seo i gConamara - tharla sé dhá mhí ó shin. Tá daoine braon de seo. Tuigeann siad go dtarlóidh sé arís agus go bhfuil siad scartha amach ó chuile dhuine eile. Níl siad in aice leis an gcathair. Níl siad in aice leis na bunseirbhísí atá ag teastáil. Ba bhreá liom go mbeadh muid ar fad in ann oibriú le chéile le réitigh de chineál éigin, fadtéarmach agus gearrthéarmach, a fháil ar an gceist seo.

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