Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Storm Éowyn devastated entire communities. Households, businesses and farmers suddenly had their access to essential power, heat and water cut off. Many were waiting weeks for it to be restored. People could not wash, turn on the lights or heat their homes. For some, the lack of water and power posed a real risk to their lives. I commend my colleague Deputy O'Reilly on tabling the motion to highlight the total inadequacy of the humanitarian assistance scheme and the lack of transparency and broken promises. People felt let down and abandoned. The Taoiseach provided repeated assurances that the scheme would support everyone who needed it and that the most vulnerable would not be left behind. These reassurances proved to be demonstrably untrue. It seemed that the Government was not interested in delivering the type of supports people needed. If the intention was to leave no one behind, will the Minister justify why a staggering two thirds of applications for supports have been rejected, some without explanation? Will he explain why he attempted to wind up the scheme without a public announcement? Will he outline why only €6.8 million has been paid out in response to one of the most devastating storms ever seen on the island?

The actions in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn indicate that the primary interest of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry-led Independents was providing the illusion of support but not delivering the solutions required. In a similar vein, misleading claims were also peddled by the Government, which said it remained committed to supporting businesses throughout the recovery period and beyond. No commitment ever existed. Many businesses and farmers were left out in the cold literally and left to the mercy of unscrupulous insurance companies more concerned with how high excesses could go, raising insurance premiums and making more profit than ensuring people were supported. That is not good enough. We have repeatedly proposed measures to rectify this mess such as the introduction of clear timelines and the expansion of the scheme to businesses and farmers. We reiterate those calls tonight. The devastation was compounded by the failures to build an energy infrastructure fit for purpose over the years. Power outages are not rare in my constituency of Kerry. One resident has had 20 power cuts in the past year. While the Government may accept this as normal, we do not. We have a plan to deliver an affordable, sustainable and secure system that is resilient. We also want to distribute the burden of its maintenance fairly, for example, through the restructuring of network charges and a PSO levy. We also encouraged the Government to introduce goodwill payments to compensate for the prolonged power cuts but our proposals were ignored. As households pay for the grid through standing charges, it is only right they should be compensated for prolonged power cuts. This could be one way to bring down our energy prices, which are some of the highest in Europe. There are also broader structural issues. Our proposal to establish a €2.5 billion investment fund could kick-start the procurement of long-duration energy storage.

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