Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Feighan for raising this issue. I am very conscious that he represents a part of the country impacted by Storm Amy and that is still very much living with the fallout from Storm Éowyn and, to put it mildly, the absolute chaos it caused. People in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal were particularly affected by Storm Amy, as were those in Mayo, Roscommon and Galway.

I extend the sympathies of everybody in this House to the family of Mr. Connors from Letterkenny, who died due to a weather-related incident in Donegal. All our thoughts are with his family.

Preparations were put in place for Storm Amy. The ESB put crews in position in advance. At the peak of the storm, over 184,000 premises were affected by power outages. The Deputy is right about the ESB, which as taken a number of measures. It has taken on additional contractors to manage forested areas where there are damaged or weakened trees. Forestry-harvesting machines have been acquired and the ESB has sourced stocks of material to underpin repair capacity during the winter season. However, I will ask the relevant Minister to do exactly what the Deputy suggests, namely interact with the regulator of utility companies. The latter is the prudent thing to do at this stage.

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