Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is an honour of a lifetime to stand in this historic Chamber to make my maiden speech to a quiet Dáil. I thank the people of north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny for placing their trust in me and for giving me the privilege of being our collective voice in Dáil Éireann. As one of the youngest Members of this House, I made a promise to be a new, fresh and energetic voice for the people of north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny. I intend to work every day to deliver for my area and the Irish people on key issues of local and national importance. I thank the Fianna Fáil organisation in north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny for its support during the local and general elections last year. I particularly acknowledge my family and friends for their support. It is a privilege to represent our party in Dáil Éireann and to stand here today as a Fianna Fáil TD. I want us in this House and my party to have ambition for our future for what we can collectively achieve as we move Ireland forward together.

The record-breaking storm, the extratropical cyclone, Storm Éowyn, did unprecedented damage to communities across this country. Power has been restored to about 750,000 homes, farms, schools and businesses by now but some 25,000 customers still remain without supply. As we know, full restoration could continue for a number of days. At this point, I acknowledge the incredibly hard work of our front-line staff, particularly the ESB and front-line workers, for braving the elements and working incredibly hard in tough conditions to restore power and services at a scale we have never seen in this country before. These workers left their families for extended periods. They went and worked in their own communities to get power restored before finally moving to other communities. Having spoken to ESB workers and their families in recent days, there were days on end when some of those workers were going out into the community to restore power and then coming home to their own family and home in the evening, still without power. They brave the elements after every storm, including after the snowstorm which hit us badly in Tipperary. They truly deserve to be acknowledged for that, along with their colleagues who have travelled here from Europe.

I want this conversation to also focus on how this country will be equipped for future storms, which we are bound to be impacted by. I welcome the Government's action to establish emergency response hubs and the humanitarian assistance scheme for those worst-affected by the storm damage. Plans must now be made for future emergency response hubs so that in the event of a major power outage such as this, our local authorities have the locations ready at short notice, and the ability to communicate those locations to constituents when they possibly cannot be communicated with due to lack of energy, lack of phone reception, and so on.

Fallen trees were obviously a major issue across the country. We saw it in north Tipperary in particular. The damage done by fallen trees has an awful lot to answer for, considering the power outages caused. We must have a programme that allows for the felling of trees around power lines. Particularly in areas where cables are running through forestry, we need programmes for maintenance of those cables. Many people back home have mentioned images in the media and ESB workers saying that they were essentially re-laying cables for what seemed like the very first time. I believe Coillte and private forests have much to answer for in that to ensure that the space around cabling is much wider for future storms.

The undergrounding of cables has also been brought up with me. We are possibly behind our European counterparts in getting cables underground. It is not something we can do as part of an emergency response but, thinking about the future, it is something we have to consider. There is also the issue of roadside ditches and roadside trees. Through Government, our local authorities need to be equipped to enforce laws in that area to protect our power lines, phone lines and fibre optic cables.

While the Minister of State with responsibility for forestry is here, I will raise the issue of ash dieback. It has come up in this Chamber and he will be familiar with it. Farming organisations and forestry groups have been calling for a programme for the felling of ash trees for a number of years now. Every ash tree in this country is now a danger. The more storms we get, the more dangerous they are going to be. None of them are going to escape ash dieback. Our farmers need assistance to get rid of those trees both in roadside ditches where there is a public safety concern and right across the board.

In my hometown of Nenagh, the power went out in certain areas. To be fair, we were very lucky and it was only for a short period of time. However, the power had been back a day when the water in the town went. The businesses had to contend with that. Cafés and restaurants had to close and shops could not continue to operate. We need back-up generators for Irish Water wherever they are needed.

See this speech in context