Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Chuala muid an díospóireacht. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis na Baill a thug páirt sa díospóireacht iontach sin agus gabhaim buíochas leo. Go mórmhór, gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as an rún a chur os comhair na Dála. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis na hoifigigh agus leis na baill den phobal a thug cuairteanna agus tacaíocht dá gcomharsana tar éis na stoirme agus gabhaim buíochas leo.

I begin by congratulating the Ceann Comhairle on having the confidence of the House and wish her well in the term ahead. It is important to thank all Members of the House for their contributions and for raising many pertinent, relevant and real issues. I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice, in particular, for his balanced and genuine approach. I thank Sinn Féin Deputies for their contributions as well. I thank the Minister, Deputy Calleary, for his hands-on approach post the storm and the flexibility and compassion he showed.

As all speakers noted, everyone living in our communities understands the challenges posed by Storm Éowyn. They were exceptional. As Deputy Connolly stated, there were 183 km/h winds in Connemara. These hurricane winds were recorded along the western seaboard. Many different people and communities were severely impacted and left without services or power, as Deputy Mattie McGrath eloquently stated. The Government understands the frustration, upset and trauma. We have spoken to many of the people affected. I listened to the concerns expressed tonight in respect of the supports available to householders, businesses and farmers. If we are being honest, we must take stock of the fact that science is telling us our weather events will become more severe. I live in Cork city which was flooded. We were told it was a one-in-100-years event. As Deputy Gould will know, Cork floods regularly now. Some people do not want to see any progress regarding flood relief works in Cork city. They need to look into the science. As the Minister, Deputy Calleary, stated, we must learn lessons from the storm.

Flexibility, compassion and guidance were themes in Members' contributions to this debate and will have to be the hallmark of the Government's response. While I recognise the valid contributions of Deputies who expressed frustration and concern, there were aspects of the response to the storm that worked well. First, the key role played by the community and voluntary sector must be commended and those involved must be thanked. There was a meitheal-type response in many ways and I thank everybody for their efforts and for stepping up to assist their neighbours, families, communities, businesses, sporting groups and voluntary organisations. During Covid and in the response to Storm Éowyn, it was the community and voluntary sector that stepped up and showed how we, as a country, epitomised the best of neighbourliness and showed person-to-person engagement. It is also important to recognise the public sector organisations which worked tirelessly to support people affected by the storm.

If we are to have a post mortem or a reflection on the response to Storm Éowyn, the most important issue will be the protection of life. Sadly, there was one fatality, but the activation of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group saved lives. We need to look at this again. Some people criticise the different colour-coded warnings or say there has been one warning too many or it is a case of the boy who cried wolf. Storm Éowyn showed the importance of storm warnings and colour coding. As previous speakers stated, once the storm passed, the focus was on the restoration of power and services and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

I thank the ESB crews and other crews who went out after the storm to restore power in very difficult and treacherous conditions. The National Emergency Co-ordination Group and its relevant subgroups met every day from the date of its establishment on 22 January until Monday, 10 February, with the Government Information Service issuing daily press releases to keep people informed. The key priority of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group after the storm passed was, and remains, the restoration of power, water, telecommunications and other services to homes, farms and businesses and the provision of humanitarian assistance to those worst affected by the storm.

It should be noted that, as soon as it was possible, local authorities, working with the support of the other members of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group subgroup on humanitarian assistance, led and co-ordinated a local level response to the needs of people significantly impacted by the storm.

10 o’clock

As the Minister said, teams are still working actively on issues and the review is still open. As Deputy Lawless mentioned, they can also contact the Department. Emergency response hubs are activated to assist people with basic needs such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access and showering facilities, with approximately 380 hubs established at the peak of the response. We should pay tribute to that enormous community engagement effort.

I agree completely with Deputy Fitzmaurice that the regulator of telecommunications has a role to play. The chief executive of the ESB was very quick to come in and speak about raising prices, but the Deputy is right. That is why the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, met the communication providers and they have a role. The level of customer service by the communications companies leaves much to be desired. I have spoken to people on the islands and on parts of the western seaboard who have been badly affected. They spoke to me about the lack of a person to talk to and engage with in the telecommunication companies. The Ministers, Deputies O'Donovan and Calleary, and I will take that up for the Deputy.

The workers in the local authorities, the ESB, Uisce Éireann and Government Departments worked long and hard to support people who needed support. People tonight spoke about the Department of Social Protection, which is still working to process the humanitarian assistance scheme applications while also looking at the whole issue of social welfare supplementary allowance applications. That is something we should acknowledge.

As Members have said, we must look at the effect of the storm and subsequent outages of power, water and communications on small and medium-sized enterprises. We have listened to the views expressed by Members tonight in that regard.

In his contribution, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, spoke about generators. The Government will look at the scheme for the provision of generators and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, will look at roofs for sheds. I have had communication from members of my party, including councillors from the western seaboard, complaining about shed roofs being blown away. Equally, it is about the community centre being the hub and, as Deputy Fitzmaurice said, about that place of heat, protection and shelter. It is something we should look at again in the round. The community and voluntary sector showed the importance of our community centre investment fund with investment at the heart of our communities.

We appreciate the solidarity shown by our European neighbours, for which I thank them, in terms of the activation of the Union civil protection mechanism and subsequent donations of generators to provide additional power and resilience to assist restoration across key sectors. On behalf of the Government, I thank crews from the North, the United Kingdom, Austria, Finland, Germany, Scotland, France and Norway who came to the aid of our ESB crews to support the recovery effort.

We should thank local and national media because they provided safety messaging and information to the public prior to and during the storm. It again shows the importance of our local media.

I thank all Members for their contributions to this debate. It was important to hear the articulation of the genuine concerns expressed on behalf their constituents living in communities affected directly by the storm. We must learn from the mistakes as well as what we did right and ensure that will be put to good effect. As science has shown us, there is no doubt that more storms of different types are coming and we must be ready for them.

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