Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad. This may be his first time here since the reinstatement of the Seanad. I wish him well in his role. It is a daunting one but I have no doubt he will bring much experience, expertise and passion to the area.

May this side of the House, and certainly the Fianna Fáil group, be associated with the condolences to the family and friends of Kacper Dudek? His death was a tragic accident. We certainly share in the expressions of sympathy.

It is of scant comfort to those impacted but it is important to note that Storm Éowyn was an unprecedented weather event in our lifetimes. It smashed all records and caused widespread devastation and outages for hundreds of thousands of families around the country. It is important to note from what the Minister has said that he has already considered an enhanced winter grid resilience plan, an increased stock of spare parts for the electricity network, the creation of forestry corridors to protect overhead line corridors and, of course, the enhancement of partnerships across Europe.

I note that co-ordination teams were put in place in 19 counties. Obviously, some counties were more impacted than others, but every county was impacted and I certainly believe there should have been a local co-ordination group set up in each. While Kildare was not one of the local authority areas that had a local co-ordination group, it was certainly very much impacted in that there are people who did not have water for up to a week or more and people who did not have electricity for ten days or more. The areas most impacted were around Rathangan and the north west of the county, including Clogharinka. The local authority did not take action straight away to provide hubs, but local communities, especially the people in Clogharinka and Robertstown, did. Their GAA clubs opened up and provided comfort, places for people to charge their mobile phones, hot water and so on. This was very important. I thank all those who helped in this regard. It is really important, however, having had this experience and as we plan, that there should be a fund and supports so local hubs can be put in place very quickly to support those within specific geographic areas.

With regard to forestry conditions, I am aware the circumstances were particularly bad in Leitrim. All around the country fallen lines were very much caused by the issues we have owing to felling licences not being given. This has to be treated as a priority. I am aware it falls outside the Minister’s remit, but if we are to have a co-ordinated approach and joined-up thinking, we need to ensure felling licences are given. We must also deal with ash dieback because it is continuing to cause problems. Trees are continuing to fall because of the after effects of the storm. There are still no-go areas.

There are forests that people use for recreational walking. Just last week, I went to Killinthomas Wood, which is outside Rathangan. It is still a no-go area but I noted when I went past the barrier, which I should not have done, there seemed to have been no clean-up at all. It is important that work in recreational areas, especially for those who live in towns and may not have space, take place urgently.

Regarding the welfare of those reliant on electrical medical equipment and those who are ill, a register needs to be put in place in every local authority area that people can sign so we will have a sense, locally, regionally and nationally, of those who depend on electrical devices. For newborn babes, too, we should have a system online where people can sign up so, as soon as we have an emergency such as the one we had, we will be able to offer help and support.

It is very good that we are now starting to consider generators for water treatment plants. This is important. Having access to generators at central areas within communities could be funded. Their use could be co-ordinated at local authority and community levels.

I thank all the ESB workers and other emergency workers who worked night and day to support everybody. Without them, we certainly would not have restored power as quickly as we did, even though it took some time in some areas.

It is really good that a humanitarian assistance scheme was put in place, but there were people other than homeowners affected. Businesses were also impacted. Businesses providing broadband infrastructure, in particular, lost six weeks of work. There should be a scheme put in place to compensate businesses that lost out.

I thank the Minister for the work he is doing. It is important we have this debate and that the Minister and Department have the opportunity to take on board some of the recommendations coming from me and my colleagues.