Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

It is still difficult to believe we are now almost three weeks into the aftermath of the storm and there are still people across the west who do not have power. While I do accept that the Government cannot control the weather, it can of course control, for example, forestry, protecting the ESB network and the distance between trees and the ESB and NBI network as well. It is of course the responsibility of the Government to take account of the slow and very sluggish response in the aftermath of the storm.

The truth is that Dublin did not take this storm seriously. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the Taoiseach travelled from Cork to Newry to attend a sporting event, while the Tánaiste was busy tweeting about his shoes. The people of County Mayo and the west deserved a much greater and more urgent response following the storm.

I acknowledge the great work of the people on the ground employed by Mayo County Council and all the local authorities, Uisce Éireann and in particular the ESB who worked tirelessly. I met men across Mayo who came out of retirement to help their former colleagues in the ESB. I met crews from Wexford and various parts of the country who came to the west to support the crews on the ground in Mayo and the neighbouring counties. However, I was hugely disappointed that the CEO of the ESB stated that he believed it should be the responsibility of the customers - the Irish citizens - to foot the bill for the storm, despite the fact that they already pay one of the highest electricity charges in Europe. Perhaps Mr. Hayes does not realise that because of his very large salary of almost €400,000. That is the combined salary of the French President and the British Prime Minister.

SMEs are the lifeblood of the rural economy and the economy of this great country. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, said last week in this very Chamber that the scheme does not cover commercial, agricultural or business losses. There are no supports available to the commercial sector or the agricultural sector following the storm. Small and medium businesses are the lifeblood of Mayo and the west. They are the very people and business owners that employ our neighbours, support our local teams, pay taxes to this Government and, once again, they are left out in the cold.

The SME sector in this country is the one that suffers the most discrimination. There are no RTÉ-style bailouts, no golden handshakes, and no social protection net when they fall on hard times, just the expectation that they will get on with it - pay more taxes and deal with more regulation, etc. We are forcing these businesses down the insurance route at a time insurance premiums are already at an all-time high. Many businesses in the SME sector will not survive, not necessarily because of the storm but due to the lack of response and supports available to them following it.

We need an immediate response involving reimbursement of the families and households who have been significantly affected. We also need financial support for the SME sector. In addition, we need a response to the storm. We must cull the trees along the ESB and NBI networks. I propose a similar scheme to the local improvement scheme, LIS. Farmers are very familiar with the LIS. This would protect the NBI and ESB networks across the country.

I also propose the establishment of contingency contracts with farmers and agricultural contractors that would kick into action following storms and crisis situations. I was shocked to learn in recent weeks that some of the biggest and the best agricultural contractors in Mayo were not contacted. These people have some of the biggest and best machinery to deal with trees falling across roads and across power lines in forested areas.

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