Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In my constituency of Donegal a lot of damage was done. The biggest damage was to the life of Kacper Dudek, a 20-year-old returning home from work who was killed during the storm. I want to think about him, his family and friends today. He was such a young man. We talk about the impacts that this storm has had across the State but the impact for Kacper's family will be forever. I express my gratitude to the staff of the ESB who were in regular contact with me during that time. They pulled out all the stops to get the power back on in the family home so that they could have a wake and grieve for Kacper. It took a while, but the ESB was able to achieve that.

We have seen huge devastation in our communities but we have also seen the best of our communities with the voluntary and community effort across Donegal and the State. I commend those who responded to the elderly and those who cleared roads. I also commend the staff of our State organisations, our councils, Uisce Éireann and the ESB. They all went above and beyond to get people up and back at it. Community and sporting groups opened up their facilities. As Deputy Ó Laoghaire and others mentioned, many had their own facilities were damaged. Businesses opened up their premises to allow people to recharge batteries. In some cases, hotels provided hot showers and free beds. Some of these premises had been damaged and no support has been offered to any of those sporting organisations, community groups or businesses.

When I looked at the hubs that were announced by the Government maybe a week after the storm, I discovered they were actually the community groups that were already acting from day one, just collated on a piece of paper. They are the real heroes in our community and they need to be respected, so I echo the calls in the motion to bring forward a scheme to allow those to be assisted in those sectors as well.

Without our local radio stations, many would not have known how to be reconnected, get information or, say, recharge the battery of a hoist for a child with a disability, or where they could find a safe haven. My county had an especially challenging time because a warning was issued directing people in mobile homes to leave them but, as the Minister of State will know, as a result of the defective concrete blocks scandal many of my constituents use mobile homes because their houses are less safe than a mobile home during a storm. I was very concerned for many of those people and, indeed, some mobile homes have been significantly damaged. Approximately 87,000 homes, farms and businesses in Donegal, practically the entire county, were without power after the storm, while 700 were still without power last weekend. It was only yesterday the ESB was able to confirm that all homes had had power restored, 16 days after the storm.

One case that impacted on me, although there were many, related to the family of an 85-year-old who was in contact with my office. There was no family near to where this person lived and he was alone without power for ten days. This 85-year-old was in poor health, with no light, heat or warm water for ten days. That is simply unacceptable. He was too frail to make it to any of the hubs and despite living only on a pension, he had to find money to pay for a room in a nearby hotel after the tenth day. A school in Donegal town with 30 children was left without electricity for more than a week. That is a full week of parents having to make alternative arrangements and, most likely, take time off work.

Action needs to be taken by the Government to ensure this will not happen again. The Government's response to the storm failed rural Ireland, I think it is fair to say. There was scrambling after the fact. Generators were in the wrong place, we did not have a list of hubs and we did not know where people could go for essential services. This did not, however, come out of the blue. There had been warning after warning from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which had called out ESB Networks for unacceptable continued poor performance levels when it comes to ensuring reliability of supply. This has been going on for years, despite the ESB making eye-watering profits. We now need to see from the ESB goodwill payments for those who have been affected and the waiving of the standing charges, but it is not just the ESB. People in my county still do not have an Internet connection - businesses and residents alike. One person who contacted me by phone has relocated to the county, having thought they could do remote living and work from home, but they are now questioning that whole idea. Many others have told me to relay to the Government that if it tries to take their fireplace or stove from them, it will have another thing coming, because they have been left without heat or electricity for nearly 16 days.

An old saying of government is that lessons must be learned, but in this case the lessons should have been learned already. This was not the first storm we have had. The preparation should have been there and there was not an effective plan. Unfortunately, the Government was caught out in a bad way and people were let down as a result.

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