Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, on his recent appointment. I wish him well in his new role. I have no doubt he has hit the ground running.

The Minister of State will be aware that a public meeting was hosted by the secretariat of the Leitrim public participation network, PPN, in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, on Thursday last, 23 January. This was a significant date as it was the night before Storm Éowyn hit our island. I commend the Leitrim PPN for organising the meeting. The meeting's main focus was the terrible impact around the constant loss of electric power for long periods following Storm Darragh in December when many households were out of power for over two weeks. Many are experiencing their fifth and six outage over the preceding 12 months. This is, to say the least, unbearable living conditions. I could talk at length about the impact of this on my constituents who live in rural Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal and the west and north west, but my time would diminish. Suffice to say there are still tens of thousands of people in those counties and around the country going into their 13th day without power. Given the turn in the temperature life is very challenging. We must focus on why this is happening and what the Minister of State can do to reduce the impact of multiple power outages in rural parts of the north west.

It is estimated that one third of the available land in Leitrim is covered by forestry. I do not intend to go into that debate but will focus on the point that there are multiples of kilometres of lines, both high and low voltage, running through these forests. In many cases they are less than 5 m from a tree. Hundreds of these trees fall on lines in the course of a year and then inevitably the power is out. The access to some of these forests is akin to getting into the deepest jungles anywhere in the world and requires heavy-duty machinery.

I understand from personal correspondence to my office that when I sent the Leitrim PPN report from that meeting that the Minister of State has not delayed and has, in fact, proceeded to act. He has moved to set up a task force to deal with the crisis, which I hope would include the following: that the Department would engage in a mapping exercise in conjunction with ESB Networks to understand and see where electric lines are running through forestation; to determine a proper distance and an agreed setback of power lines from trees; to clarify the legal entitlements of the ESB and its contractors to go on lands to clear trees that are dangerously close to power lines; to clarify the issue around felling licences for such clearances and the need to provide a Department exemption for same for forest owners and managers; and consider the introduction of by-laws to reinforce the responsibility of forest owners. Finally, I ask that the Minister of State would have regular reviews and meetings of the said task force to determine progress and ensure that another storm will not have the impacts of the ones that came before.

The last two weeks have been incredibly difficult for the families, the farmers, the people in the west and the north west, as well across the country. I commend the front-line people who have worked so hard, namely, the ESB, the local authorities, Coillte and the many other people working. We need to do better, however. In my 25 years in politics it absolutely has been the hardest time that I have seen people experience on the ground. They have run out of patience. They are angry and have a right to be angry. I believe that as a Government we need to do more. I believe that the Army should have been called in. They should have been there to help. Other people have said they are not skilled but they have great resources and great skills and they should have been there to help. It would have sent out a signal that we were prepared as a Government to help our people in the west and north west, from Dublin. I believe it is an opportunity missed but we need to learn from this and I believe we will.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I acknowledge that Deputy Feighan has worn a path to Agriculture House on behalf of the constituents of Sligo-Leitrim and that he has worked diligently in highlighting the concerns he has on the ground following on from the recent storms. We are taking all possible steps to facilitate appropriate responses to allow forest owners to clear blown trees in a safe and sustainable manner. In this context I thank the Deputy for his Topical Issue matter, which is appropriate. I appreciate this opportunity to provide an overview on the current situation regarding the setback of trees from power lines and to elaborate on my Department’s response to Storm Éowyn.

First, let me highlight the legislative powers in relation to power lines, which reside under section 98 of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1927, as amended by section 45 of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999. These allow the ESB and its representatives, taking due care and attention to avoid unnecessary damage, to lop or cut any trees, shrubs or hedges which obstruct or interfere with laying or maintenance of electrical wires. Such works are a matter between the ESB and anyone acting on their behalf, and the landowners in question, and do not require a felling licence from my Department. There are no express provisions in the Forestry Act 2014 or in forestry regulations governing the interaction between ESB power lines and afforestation.

There are, however, long-standing forest design requirements in place to protect the electricity network where it interacts with forestry land, at different scales of supply, and the protection of utilities is considered and applied during afforestation approval processes. Section 7 of the Forestry Standards Manual provides guidance on how to deal with ESB lines interacting with grant-aided forest areas. This guidance was based on an agreement between the ESB and the IFA, which defined corridor widths by power line type and other requirements regarding access. These requirements are outlined in the Forestry Standards Manual.

One of the actions for my Department in the programme for Government is to work together with the ESB to support and accelerate the timber and vegetation clearance programme and I am fully committed to this process. Contact has already been made with the ESB and we will aim to facilitate any mitigations or actions proposed by them in relation to the interaction of power lines and forestry. In this connection I held a meeting of the forestry wind-blow task force, which comprises key stakeholders including the IFA, Irish Forest Owners, IFO, and Coillte. The aim of the task force is to co-ordinate the response to the storms, with particular emphasis on dealing safely with the large areas of forest that have been blown down. The question of the interaction of forestry with power lines will also be considered in this forum.

In terms of our immediate response to the storm damage, my Department has started a process along with Coillte, using satellite imagery, which will be able to provide information nationally and at forest level. This assessment of damage nationally using satellite imagery will aid in determining the extent of damage and will provide a map indicating where in each forest damage from the recent storms has occurred. This deals directly with an issue that was raised by the Deputy. This information will help to inform any next steps. We have already decided to prioritise both felling and road licence applications that are required in storm-affected areas. We have to ensure the licences that will be issued are robust and free from any challenge. My Department has also issued guidance for forest owners with wind blow who are advised not to rush into decisions but to make a step-by-step plan to minimise risk and maximise the salvage value of their plantation.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State and it is plain to see that he has done a lot of work already. There is one thing I have noticed over the years. We have a lot of various Departments, and everyone is busy, but no-one seems to spend time talking to one another. I saw this happening when we had flooding on the Shannon many years ago - about 12 years ago. The local authorities were blaming one another, the ESB was blaming the OPW and the OPW was blaming Waterways Ireland, but we got them all working together. Now, years later, although flooding happens, it is being managed to a certain extent. That is because of co-operation. On this occasion we need co-operation.

I have a letter here that was sent to me by a lady who is a single parent with a son for whom she is a carer. She is living in a house beside a wood in rural Leitrim. She has a history of outages because the trees in the wood are falling down. On 21 January, there was an outage for two hours. On 22 February, there was an outage for 5.5 hours. On 1 March, there was an outage for 12 hours. On 8 April, there was an outage for 2.5 hours. On 15 April, there was an outage for 4.5 hours. On 21 April, there was an outage for two hours. On 19 August, there was an outage for two hours. On 19 September, there was an outage for four hours. She has now been without electricity for two weeks. How can anybody live in rural Ireland if they want to work from home or care for a child with a certain diagnosis? How can people live with these outages?

I know the Minister of State will work hard. We need to step up to the plate because by God, we were caught napping on this occasion. It was a severe storm, but we could have done better. The argument we hear is that if the damage was done nearer Dublin, the full resources of the State would have been set aside. We took our eyes off the ball, perhaps because there is a new Government and the people in the Department did not fully get it. The people of Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal, Mayo and Galway are equally important as the people in Dublin. On this occasion, we did not step up to the plate fully enough.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy and agree with his last statements. I again thank him for raising this Topical Issue. It is important that we let the people of the country know exactly what we are doing.

I further confirm that this morning I visited counties Meath and Monaghan to see some of the devastation at first hand. I came back this evening and reported to the Minister, Deputy Heydon, what we had seen on the ground. He is raising the issue at Cabinet level and every effort will be made by this Government for the people in forestry and horticulture who have been affected. We in the Department will do our level best and will not be found wanting. We will put our shoulders to the wheel and will work together. I take on board everything that Deputy Feighan has said. The people in his constituency can be assured that they are well represented by him on this important issue. I appreciate that there is afforestation in his constituency. It is important to recognise that because afforestation is welcome but there are concerns about it in his constituency, particularly given what has happened during the recent storms.

I am confident that the forestry windblow task force will help to ensure that a co-ordinated response to deal with the affected forests will be rolled out as soon as possible. I again thank the emergency services, the people who had to go out late at night and early in the morning, whether they were working for the ESB or the local authorities, those working in our hospitals, those working with Eircom and all the county council workers. Everybody put their shoulders to the wheel on this occasion. They put themselves in danger in many instances while working in very difficult conditions throughout the country. We owe them all a big debt of gratitude for their excellent work.