Mark Duffy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank the front-line personnel throughout the country who responded very quickly to the extreme weather event that affected so many. I offer condolences to Kacper Dudek's family on his tragic passing and on the illnesses and bereavements caused by the storm.

If ever there was a case for local government reform, Storm Éowyn has demonstrated it. The orbits of the ESB and Uisce Éireann need to be interlinked with local government and councils. They cannot be operating in silos. We need policies based on working for the common good and the common interest, including getting water or electricity back to homes across the country.

Eir has an awful lot to answer for. Across my constituency of Mayo, we still have homes without phone or Internet services. It is disgraceful and goes back to the lack of local representation and input from councillors on the ground to connect with semi-State bodies. The regulator needs to look at that.

Fire stations in County Mayo were not even placed on standby, meaning the personnel and crew of one station alone had to travel through the night and the storm from nine different locations in response to calls as opposed to being based in the station ready to respond to call-outs. That put lives at risk. There should be a direct learning from that so that, when there is a red alert, crews are on standby in the station. We need to put our local representatives back at the centre of this so they can respond immediately. It took days and days for things to escalate. We need to bring semi-States like Uisce Éireann, the ESB and Eir within the orbit of local authorities so councillors on the ground can solve it. Local decisions should not be escalated into Deputies and Senators' responsibilities.