Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Storm Éowyn was an unprecedented weather event. We have had debates and discussions in this Chamber. Many Members have views on it. At the peak, 768,000 homes, businesses and farms had no electricity. I commend all the crews - more than 3,000 ESB Network contractors and colleagues who assisted from Britain and the EU were out there to restore power to our citizens. I acknowledge this was incredibly difficult for a lot of our citizens, the very last of whom were three weeks without power. That means we have to work further on the resilience of our system. I met ESB Networks regularly over that period. I met its representatives virtually the day after the storm. I met them again on 22 January and only last night again. The Deputy can be assured from the Taoiseach down - we have a Cabinet committee in relation to our response to the storm and what we can do to bring our winter programme forward. I mentioned to other Deputies investment in PR6, from 2026 to 2030, as a measure we can bring forward to this year. More than 3,000 ESB poles were replaced post storm along with about 900 km of overhead wires. On issues regarding forestry, I engaged directly with the Minister, Deputy Heydon. We met just last night along with officials from the Department of agriculture, my Department and ESB Networks around tree corridors and how we can advance a programme in that regard. I assure Deputies that we will continue to advance these works. There will be major investment in our grid from 2026 on of more than €13.4 billion. That is up from just over €5.4 billion over the previous five-year period.

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