James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the opportunity to speak to the Seanad on the response to Storm Éowyn. It allows me to bring some clarity to the co-ordinated response led by my Department.

First, I will clarify the role of my Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is the lead Government Department for the response to severe weather events. This means it is responsible for the co-ordination of the response to events such as Storm Éowyn across the whole of government, local authorities, agencies, utilities and the voluntary sector. The co-ordinating role is essential to ensure full situational awareness, effective communication, cross-sectoral collaboration and prioritisation of resources as the response to these events transitions from the response phase to recovery phase. This co-ordinated approach to handling emergencies and their aftermath is activated frequently in response to Atlantic winter storms.

It is recognised that Ireland experienced one of the most dangerous and destructive storms in living memory on Friday, 24 January 2025, when Storm Éowyn made landfall. Unprecedented damage was done by the storm, leaving approximately 768,000 homes, farms and businesses without power. Among the knock-on impacts were 84,000 customers not having access to water, a severely impacted transport system and the loss of connectivity and broadband for over 1 million customers. The Government recognises the hardship and distress experienced by many families and the disruption caused to farms, business, schools and wider society as a result of the impacts of Storm Éowyn.

I also take this opportunity to convey my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Kacper Dudek for their tragic loss. On behalf of the Government, I thank everyone involved in the preparation for, response to and recovery from Storm Éowyn. We are incredibly grateful for people's dedication, skills and willingness to leave their families and homes to work to restore power to the families and homes of others. Without them, it could not have been done.

An emergency management system, which was developed in accordance with the principles of good international emergency management practice and successfully co-ordinates a whole-of-government approach at national and local levels, has been developed and utilised in Ireland over the past decade. This system has been used successfully to manage several extreme weather events, including Storm Ophelia on 16 October 2017 and the snow event, Storm Emma, which lasted from 27 February to 4 March 2018. Underpinning this system is the 2017 strategic emergency management framework, published by the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence, which facilitates a co-ordinated leadership in the face of extreme and difficult conditions, rapid identification of key issues and supports necessary to ensure an effective response and whole-of-government co-ordination supporting all local authorities that lead in the response to severe weather events.

It has been claimed there was a lack of a co-ordinated plan for dealing with Storm Éowyn. I put on the record that this was not the case. Officials from the national directorate for fire and emergency management in my Department identified the potential for severe and destructive weather in advance of the naming of Storm Éowyn. They made advanced contact with both local authorities, the lead agency in respect of severe weather, the ESB, EirGrid and Uisce Éireann on 22 January. This gave them the opportunity to stand up their crisis management teams, activate response plans and have crews and equipment ready for immediate deployment as soon as it was safe to do so. Furthermore, as part of the preparatory process in advance of Storm Éowyn, a national emergency co-ordination group - the NECG, which is the established Government platform for responding to national level emergencies under the strategic emergency management framework, was activated on 22 January. In this case, it was chaired by my Department as lead Government Department. It is mandatory for all Government Departments and key national agencies to attend the NECG. The activation of the NECG is notified through the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence. At this early stage of the process, key public safety messaging is developed and communicated among the NECG and this messaging is pushed out through all mediums. This messaging is aligned to Met Éireann weather warnings issued to protect life and ensure citizen safety.

As soon as it was possible to do so, local authorities working with the support of other members of the NECG's subgroup on humanitarian assistance led and co-ordinated a local level response to the needs of people who had been significantly impacted by the storm. Emergency response hubs were activated to assist people with basic needs such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access and shower facilities, with approximately 380 hubs established at the peak of the response. Helplines were established for those in need of assistance. They provided advice and direction to supports available, including the Department of Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme. Support and equipment were provided to those most in need, where possible.

All local authorities shared available resources between them and a central national database was established to support this work. Local authorities ensured all appropriate local and national organisations were co-ordinated in responding to individual and community needs and, most importantly, that the needs of the most vulnerable were prioritised. The NECG 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 NECG press releases every day containing important public information. The key priorities of the NECG remained 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 Storm Éowyn.

The NECG oversaw the intensive work across the whole of government to restore power, water, telecommunications and other services to homes, farms and businesses. A key focus was finding ways to support power restoration works that would make the most impact on restoring water, communications and other essential services. The NECG had four subgroups dedicated to both preparatory decisions and co-ordinating the recovery phase: the subgroup on education and transport, the subgroup on power infrastructure, the subgroup on communications infrastructure and the subgroup on humanitarian assistance

Working together, all members of the NECG were in a position to make key decisions and co-ordinate efforts to facilitate the recovery. These efforts included activating the EU civil protection mechanism, resulting in the production of vital mapping information and the donation of 18 high voltage generators to support recovery efforts; co-ordinating the assistance of local authorities, Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and other bodies to clear trees and debris from roads and access routes to allow for ESB and Uisce Éireann crew to repair restore points; securing assistance from the Defence Forces, Civil Defence, the Coast Guard and the Air Corps to provide drones and operators, helicopters to support damage assessment, and transport and logistics solutions; activating humanitarian hubs with the assistance of local authorities, community groups and NGOs to provide assistance on the ground; compiling lists of resources such as generators and deploying them where they could be most impactful; ensuring any resources available were being used to support utilities, the health and education sectors and humanitarian efforts; and co-ordinating mutual assistance including support of incoming crews deployed to the restoration of the ESB network.The Government continues to support those severely impacted, including individuals, families, communities, businesses and sports clubs, through the Department of Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme. The programme for Government includes a commitment to develop an extreme weather event assistance scheme for homes, community organisations, farmers and businesses, which will be brought forward as a matter of priority. Interdepartmental co-ordination, led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, continues in respect of the full restoration of telecoms and connectivity. Local authorities in impacted areas continue to lead and co-ordinate a local level response to the needs of people who have been significantly impacted by the storm.

There will be a lot to learn once we are fully out of the response stage in respect of Storm Éowyn. The strategic emergency management framework overseen by the Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence will be reviewed through the Government task force on emergency planning. My Department will be commissioning a detailed review of the response to Storm Éowyn that will be submitted to the Government task force on emergency planning, highlighting key findings and making recommendations that will be agreed and assigned to all relevant sectors for rapid implementation. There will be a key focus on planning, business continuity management, and further strengthening the resilience of our infrastructure and essential services.