Nessa Cosgrove (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that Storm Éowyn caused devastation to power and communication networks throughout the country as well as the financial loss caused through damage, including the loss of 4.1 million tonnes of timber or 11,740 ha of forestry. Other Senators have spoken, as I will, about looking for redress for forest owners and I have submitted this as a Commencement matter for next week. In my area of County Leitrim this can be a direct result of the overforestation of a monoculture of Sitka spruce.

I focus today on a different type of loss and damage, which may take as long or be as difficult to restore as any amount of forestry. This is the damage that cannot be seen. I am talking about the damage done to the relationship between the citizen and the State. This is the loss of faith many people in the west and north west have experienced due to feeling neglected and virtually ignored by the State and the anger they feel as this is being repeated across many spheres. We all accept this storm was unprecedented, but while many people in urban centres had power and communications rapidly restored, for rural communities across the country, the suffering seemed to go on and on. I am thinking about communities such as Geevagh and Highwood in rural County Sligo, many of which were without power for two weeks having only just recovered from Storm Darragh last December. The Sligo Champion reported on the case of an elderly couple, Seamus and May, who resorted to living in the kitchen huddled together around their old solid fuel range and who were lighting this space with their tractor, which was left running outside and shining through the kitchen window. That is not okay.

I am thinking about people who were given humanitarian relief forms by local county councillors, who admitted as they handed them out, that nobody knew what could and could not be claimed for. I know from speaking to other Seanadóirí that there was no consistency to this and there were different rules for different counties. The response was a shambles in my opinion. Community organisations and community-minded individuals stepped up, and without them where would we have been? The Coach House Hotel in Ballymote, County Sligo, for example, was one of the first to throw open its doors for free use as a warm, dry place for people to come to work, charge their devices, shower or just relax and have a cup of tea. A similar example of community services was shown by GAA groups and sports clubs throughout the region and country.

Community organisations and individuals cannot fill the void left by a lack of governmental response. They do not have the resources or the responsibility and citizens know that. People keep asking where the leadership was when they needed it. I know Ministers felt they were better working in the Departments, and they may technically have been correct. However, while the Dáil remained in recess, citizens in counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal wanted to see their leaders on the ground and wanted to know their needs had been acknowledged and their concerns had been addressed. Instead, an attitude of having done all they can persists. The new Minister for forestry was criticised by a local county councillor on local radio for being conspicuous by his absence instead of coming to see first-hand the damage done as some members of the community were 21 days without power. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, only responded last week on our local radio station, Ocean FM, not by acknowledging there were some shortcomings but by attacking and making a direct response to the local representative saying he would not accept any criticisms whatsoever from that certain county councillor or from anyone else.

It is clear to anyone who had eyes and ears on the ground that the Government response was not as good as it should have been. The west and the north west were again treated with contempt and were given crumbs from the table. Every person who has spoken has said that water supplies should never have been lost. Community generators could have been stockpiled for distribution to areas affected for prolonged periods. This is not being wise after the event. Dr. Tara Shine has been warning us since 2011 to get prepared. This is climate catastrophe in action. We have been warned since 2011. Storm Ophelia in 2017, Storm Ellen in 2020 and Storm Darragh at the end of last year were all warnings that we needed to get our house in order so we can build resilience against the likelihood of more storms as climate change continues and accelerates. An essential part of that resilience is that people need to have faith that we will learn from our mistakes and put plans in place to make things better the next time. We need to be able to rely on the authorities and members of the Government, and figures in authority need to know when there are failings and how to put them right. Saying sorry and trying to do better next time are essential components of trying to repair damaged relationships, and some Ministers could well learn from remembering that.