Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I express my sincere gratitude to the staff of our local authorities and the hardworking staff of the ESB and the emergency services who gave so much during and after Storm Éowyn. Many of these people are still cleaning up after the storm. In Meath West, community hubs played a crucial role by providing support to many. They ensured that many people in Meath who were without power could charge their phones, work from the hub, shower and enjoy a warm building. This is why community centres and GAA clubs should be provided with generators should they be the ones without power in the future.

A woman with multiple sclerosis who lives not far from me relies on hoist to lift her in and out of bed. She could not access a community hub and she and her family had to depend on someone to lend her a generator to power the essentials for her, including charging her electric wheelchair and powering her hoist. Cases like this were not isolated ones. The Government needs to ensure that generators are on hand to distribute to those most in need, if and when needed.

People who invested in forestry had large areas flattened. What supports are in place for them? There should also be some kind of a fund for SMEs. One small IT business near me with 15 employees told me the company was losing €15,000 per week.

I have speak about the Government's delayed response. Many businesses and community groups are still struggling and need support. It is unacceptable that people were left without power for so long. The Government did not step in with adequate help. Today, 19 days later, some people are still without power. We need a serious commitment from the Government to ensure that when disaster strikes, we have the resources and infrastructure in place to protect our communities. If we were proactive instead of reactive, many of these power outages could have been prevented with regular inspections and maintenance of roadside trees. Many farmers and constituents who have roadside trees cannot afford to have them removed. Other trees overhang electrical and phone cables across the country. In future, we need to look at where phone cables could be put underground.

Simple measures like ensuring that Uisce Éireann has generators at treatment plants and pumping stations are crucial. The lack of forward planning left key water infrastructure without back-up generating capacity after Storm Éowyn. I urge the Government to take immediate action by providing generators for the Civil Defence to distribute to vulnerable individuals or for financial support to be provided to businesses and community organisations affected by the storm. The Government also needs to ensure that essential services like water treatment plants have the back-up they need to operate during storm crises.

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