Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach agus le gach duine a thug tacaíocht dom agus a chaith vóta dom sa toghchán seo. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall a bheith i m'ionadaí láidir. I thank the people of Galway East who have put me here as the first republican TD for the constituency in over a hundred years. I will represent them to the best of my ability.

I want to pay tribute to those involved in responding to the storm, including workers from the ESB, Uisce Éireann, county councils, emergency services, community volunteers and others. Their efforts in an emergency situation are in stark contrast to those of the Government, which only returned to work yesterday when we could have all been in here last week providing much needed clarity to people and working on issues related to the emergency response. Those workers have been working tirelessly to protect us all and restore normality to our communities, often in very dangerous and challenging circumstances. I urge the Government to ensure that they are properly acknowledged and rewarded for their efforts.

This storm has had a devastating impact on County Galway, in particular. Thousands remain without power in their homes. We also have serious water outages, road safety issues and phone and broadband outages. These are all extremely serious and have left people without their basic needs being met. What was most concerning to me over the past two weeks was the lack of care and regard shown to vulnerable members of our community. The vulnerable customers register was thrown out the window and people were only informed that alternative accommodation would be made available on day eight of the aftermath.

Many vulnerable or elderly people are not in a position to leave their homes for various reasons. They have essentially been abandoned, in many cases. Many people in my constituency are still in the dark and cold. Emma Ward, a young wheelchair user from Athenry, is well known as a strong advocate for people with disabilities. She was without electricity for 13 days and only had it restored last night. She is a registered vulnerable customer. She uses an electric wheelchair, but for most of this time she has been unable to use it. She could not access alternative accommodation due to her needs, and, as a result, she was robbed of her independence and left in pain and discomfort. This is an appalling situation and one which is not acceptable.

I appreciate the difficulty of the response, but no matter what we have to look out for the most vulnerable in our community. Emma is not the only one. I have been contacted constantly regarding elderly and vulnerable people who are suffering. A 97-year-old woman was left sleeping on the ground in the dark and cold because she could not use her personal alarm. These people cannot be forgotten about, in particular in times of crisis. Those who are still without power need support now.

We need a review of how the vulnerable customers list is utilised and ensure that, in the event of future storms, priority, generators, accommodation or some other suitable solution for individual people's needs can be provided immediately to everybody on the vulnerable customers register who is affected.

I want to raise a number of other issues in respect of our preparedness and response. Forestry is clearly an issue. Trees must be set back from power lines. It is absolutely critical that we improve our infrastructure and build up our grid, using underground infrastructure where possible. We need to ensure the system is future-proofed and ready to resist future climate challenges. The ESB recorded profits of €860 million in 2023. There is no excuse not to provide for significant investment in infrastructure.

Constantly changing restoration dates and a lack of communication have caused serious issues and meant people could not plan. That must be improved. There must be clear communication in future. Community hubs should be identified and equipped in advance. It was day four, five or six before many were set up. Our councils must be adequately funded to respond to changing demands. Communities and volunteers did their best to step up, but they were not properly supported by the Government.

Backup generators for pump houses are essential. It is mind-boggling that they were not in place in advance. Uisce Éireann must improve its communication. Representations were not responded to, with acknowledgements only being issued after several days. There was an utterly unacceptable situation in my home town of Athenry, whereby there was no water supply to the town or any of the surrounding areas for some time. No water tanker or alternative water supply was provided. Supermarkets had been cleared of water. There was no water to be gotten anywhere in Athenry and the surrounding areas. That affected thousands of people, despite repeated requests to Uisce Éireann. It was an absolutely disgraceful situation.

Phone and broadband outages were hugely concerning. I was contacted by a person who did not know that their mother had ended up in hospital. That is absolutely terrifying. Improvements in infrastructure are badly needed in this area. Some pockets of my constituency are still without these services. This obviously has a significant impact on work and emergencies. Satellite communication must be made available to first responders in the future.

I do not know where to start with the humanitarian assistance scheme. The lack of clarity in respect of the scheme has been absolutely appalling. The accommodation announcement coming eight days in was very unfair to vulnerable people who could move out, but had had to stay home until then. The fact that money had to be paid upfront meant many people were not in a position to access alternative accommodation.

The payments of €100, €150 and €200 made so far are an absolute insult to people left without power for up to two weeks who have spent huge amounts of money on things like food, clothes washing and other expenses. There has not been clarity on what is covered. For example, are generators covered? There has been no clarity for farms and businesses. We urgently need clear, comprehensive guidelines on this scheme and what is and is not covered. It is unacceptable that we have not received that two weeks later. It has left people in really difficult situations who are not receiving what they are entitled to and what they deserve.

It is my firm belief that the response to this crisis would have been so much more urgent if it was not the west of Ireland that was affected. All the stops would have been pulled out if Dublin was left without power, water and communications for up to two weeks. Rural Ireland, and particularly the west, is forgotten by this State. "To hell or to Connacht" - that is what has been said to me countless times over the past couple of weeks by my constituents and I fully agree with them.

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