Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. Every effort is being made by the various State agencies to restore services. I have met with most of them - Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, EirGrid and so on - in the context of getting power restored as quickly as possible and also in terms of the restoration of communications networks. More than that, we need to invest in areas in terms of the social and human networks that were so indispensable to people during this storm. Much of the investment in sporting facilities and local community groups has proved very effective. Many of those facilities were used by communities during Storm Éowyn. Therefore, we think we can support them more. There will be a targeted approach to institutionalising that social network resource we have a bit more.

See this speech in context