Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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100. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is satisfied with the current resilience of the ESB network in light of the damage caused by Storm Éowyn; the measures that have been taken in the five months since that storm to identify and develop dedicated corridors or pathways to protect electricity infrastructure; if he will provide an update on the measures taken, particularly as winter approaches in some months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30718/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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I ask the Minister about Storm Éowyn and the preparations that I hope are under way to make the grid more resilient. I am sure the Minister is well aware of the difficulties, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, in my constituency, which experienced huge fallout from the storm. Many houses have only recovered connectivity and landline communications in recent weeks. What steps are being taken to address and improve the resiliency of the network?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his timely question. He will know and acknowledge that Storm Éowyn was one of the most severe weather events to impact Ireland in recent decades. At its peak, as we are all acutely aware, including the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and I who were dealing with it at the time - 768,000 customers were without electricity. Despite these challenges, ESB Networks restored power to most impacted customers within 72 hours. The Deputy is right, however, that many others waited for three weeks.

I commend all of our teams across the country who worked extremely hard to reconnect power and communications.

We must continue to strengthen the capacity of the electricity grid to withstand further extreme weather events, and a range of targeted measures are now being advanced to do just that.

Following the storm, I brought forward a memo to Government on 5 February requiring the development of an ESB Networks winter 2025 grid resilience plan. This plan was approved by the Government on 8 April and set out the actions across key areas, including hazard removal and surveying, forestry management, materials and spares review, resourcing and innovation measures that will increase resilience of the electricity network for the winter ahead.

Progress has been significant. Defect and hazard clearance is actively under way with additional timber contractors to be mobilised to tackle large vegetation clearance, ESBN continues to target and prioritise the inspection of the network in the worst affected areas, a lot of them in the north west, through the use of helicopter, drone and foot surveys. At the most recent energy security group meeting, ESBN presented a status update. As of 4 June, while the national programme of network inspection continues, the status of the survey regarding the prioritised portion of the network since Storm Éowyn is as follows: approximately 70% of the transmission network, or 4,994 km of 7,000 km and 98% or the 38 cabling network or 5,565 km of 5,600 km have been surveyed. I will give more information during the supplementary response.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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This Government, in fairness, is great at documents and plans but very poor on delivery. The Minister spent most of his time acknowledging the work of the ESB, which has done tremendous work, but I want to know how many meters have been cleared. For example, there are thousands of kilometres of ESB lines where trees are growing up through those lines. There are guidelines that state the lines should be 10 m minimum away from the felling line of the tree. That is not being met, and my understanding from speaking to the ESB is that these are guidelines and there is no obligation regarding them. I want to know, how many meters have been reduced? Where are we now? We are six months away from Christmas. Last week, Hollymount, Taugheen and Foxford in County Mayo lost power because of a relatively small summer breeze and we need to ensure this is tackled.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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For the Deputy's information, there needs to be more than 10 m each side of a tree in most areas.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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Clearance.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Actually, in some instances 30 m either side are required.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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It is depending on the tree.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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It is obviously depending on the tree but I am telling the Deputy we have to work on this in a very structured way. Surveys are critically important. The whole network had never been surveyed as it has been done now. While I was in the process of telling the Deputy about the extensive survey work that is being done, a lot of clearances have happened already post storm, and the Deputy will know that from his own constituency. Three years' worth of timber was affected during the course of the storm that needed to be cleared, either having been felled by the storm or needing to be attended to. What we are doing now is, the survey work is nearly completed. This is exactly what we said we would do, by the way, as well as that we would get the winter resilience plan in place and we would have more spare capacity. That programme of additional works will be undertaken in advance of the winter. All of those corridors will not be cleared by the winter. If you look at the forested areas across the country, it is just not possible to do that so we are focusing on the worst affected areas and those most at risk.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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With respect, it is six months after the storm and we are still at survey stage.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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No.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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In many cases what we need is action. I recently had contact from a family who experienced a power outage. They live at the end of a forest. They are living in fear of the next storm. They know that should a storm hit, they will certainly experience a power outage. This is the type of work we need to get down to business on. I appreciate the survey is being undertaken but we are now in the summer and in many cases the best time to achieve this work in terms of ground conditions is now. My fear is that there will be further delays and further inertia. We will get to the autumn and ground conditions will be so poor and maybe in the winter we will realise we are not as prepared as we should be.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I assure the Deputy that all of us want the same thing here. I have answered Deputy Daly's question about the importance of continued and enhanced investment in our grid, in that resilience aspect and in our distribution network in particular. Our generation network was not affected as much as the distribution network because the grid in those areas was resilient, but there is a significant amount of work to be undertaken. If the Deputy has specific details, such as about the family he mentioned - I am not sure exactly where they live - I am sure they will be within the plans that are there already for clearance work and a lot of clearance work has happened already. The Deputy will understand that, as we embark upon an accelerated programme of clearance, especially of vegetation, that has to be done in a very structured way based on surveys so we can tackle the areas most at risk first. That is what is being done. As much resources as are required to go into that, through ESB Networks and through private contractors, will be supported by the Government and finance will not be an issue in this regard.