John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is trua í ar bealach gur faoin ábhar seo a bhfuil an chéad deis agam cúpla focal a rá sa Teach, ach sin mar atá sé. Is ábhar tábhachtach é do mhuintir mo Dháilcheantair. Fiú amháin é sin, níl a fhios agam an leor í an díospóireacht seo ach ceapaim go bhfuil gá le próiseas eile chun muid ar fad a shásamh go ndearnamar chuile rud a bhí deis againn a dhéanamh chun tionchar na stoirme a laghdú agus daoine a chabhrú.

While I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate, I am not wholly certain that it is a sufficient mechanism in terms of the requirement we have to review the preparation and response of the State to the impact and the effect of Storm Éowyn. I believe that a more forensic review is required of both the preparation and the response of the State and of all State agencies that hold some responsibility for such events. Everyone appears to accept that there are lessons to be learned. During the term of the last Dáil, there was a Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. I would expect a committee with a similar responsibility to be established in this Dáil term. I believe that committee should undertake a full review and appraisal of the State's preparation and response to Storm Éowyn to include extending invitations to all those State bodies and agencies that were involved in the preparation, response and remediation work.

Tá a fhios ag chuile dhuine sa tír gurbh ag Ceann Mhása i gConamara a bhí an taifead gála gaoithe is láidre sa stoirm seo. Ní rud annamh é sin. Everyone is aware that Mace Head in Carna recorded the highest gusts of wind and the highest sustained wind speed during the storm. However, this is not a unique occurrence. Of the five storms this country has suffered this winter, Mace Head has recorded the highest gust speed and highest sustained wind speed in three of them. Similarly, in 2024, Mace Head recorded 50% of the highest wind speeds recorded, and the other weather stations along the west coast recorded similarly. All the evidence points to one region of the country being at greater exposure and at greater risk to the impact of climate change. I look forward to the EPA concluding its national climate change risk assessment, expected to be finalised by the end of quarter 1 of 2025. This assessment aims to assist in climate change adaptation and mitigation. I am hopeful it will reflect on the areas of the country that are most susceptible to the most detrimental impacts of storms.

Of all the infrastructure that failed as a result of the storm, possibly the one that caused the greatest concern was the failure on behalf of some mobile phone customers to be able to contact emergency services. I contacted the Department of communications, which advised that the emergency call answering service operated by BT on behalf of the Minister remained fully functional during the storm and that the issue in regard to contacting the emergency services is to do with network coverage. If one's own subscriber is unavailable, then all other available networks can be fallen back on in order to facilitate emergency calls. This fallback facility is controlled by the subscriber's phone. We know that it failed. Of all the lessons we need to learn, we need to learn how to make sure we maintain such services in the event of power going at the masts.

If the lack of communication infrastructure caused concern, the impact of the storm that has caused greatest frustration, and indeed growing frustration, is the continued absence of power. The ESB reported that there were some 10,000 faults on its transmission network. Not surprisingly, as we heard already, most of the faults were suffered in the part of the country where the storm had its greatest impact. The absence of power has caused real hardship for people across the community.

Earlier, I remarked on the meteorological data that the State possesses on the region of the country that is most exposed to weather events. Applying appropriate mitigation and resilience measures to the electrical grid at this location should be prioritised. Over the course of the past fortnight, the ESB will have gathered significant data on the faults which occurred. As outlined earlier by many speakers, many of the faults were caused by the failure to adequately manage trees. In one conversation I was party to, one ESB operative indicated by his estimate that between 65% and 70% of faults were caused by the impact of trees that fell on transmission lines. From existing legislation, there appears to be no impediment to the ESB managing this better. Section 98 of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1927, as amended by section 45 of the Electricity Regulation Act, empowers the ESB to "cut any tree, shrub or hedge which obstructs or interferes with any electrical wires". I heard the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, discuss this earlier and look forward to greater measures to make sure they address this.

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