Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is my first opportunity this week to address the House. I was stuck in Cork in the aftermath of a very unfortunate storm. It really was an amazing incident for those involved. In my part of the world the schools are still closed and the villages and towns still have no water. Approximately 15,000 people have no water and approximately 135,000 people have no power. We are not expecting power in my part of the world until the weekend at the earliest. Dairy farmers, businesses and communities do not have power, water or communications. Mobile telephone coverage does not exist at present. It was an amazing incident, in particular in the southern part of Ireland. No offence to Dublin or this part of the world but I do not think people here realised exactly how ferocious a storm it was. It was a frightening event for those of us involved. Great credit must go to the people who went out to ensure that things worked afterwards. I was speaking to the ESB crews that went out that evening. They were involved in really treacherous stuff. I compliment the people in the local authority, those in the ESB and the general communities that have worked together. The real message is that it is not over. We have another few days to go. There will be no power in places such as Minane Bridge until, according to what we have heard, the weekend at the earliest. Other areas are affected and from Skibbereen to Wexford were absolutely hammered by the ferocious gales, and it was unbelievable to see a gale coming in the daytime. We will have to ask an awful lot of questions afterwards, in particular about the lack of off-grid generators and generating stock. We must consider this not only from an industry perspective, specifically in respect of agriculture, but also from a community perspective. We must look at generators and the lack of generation. In many ways we have moved with the times but we now need to move in respect of the plant to ensure we have the ability to generate.