Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber this morning. This is my fifth Commencement matter for the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and he has not entered the Chamber at all yet. I just want to put that on the record.

We have just had Storm Amy and a lot of my constituents in Roscommon once again spent the weekend without power. That follows on from Storm Éowyn back in February when 768,000 customers across the country were without electricity supply because of that storm. On the August bank holiday weekend Storm Floris, on which we had a small little yellow weather warning, also left a large part of west Roscommon without power.

The common denominator is the corridors we have in forestry and the need for the electricity supply (amendment) Bill 2025 to be prioritised and enacted as quickly as possible. I have a press release from 29 July 2025 with a headline stating that the Minister has secured Government approval for legislation to bolster the storm resilience of our electricity grid. I know we are only back, but it is now 8 October and a large number of people across the western part of this country are looking at the next storm in the coming weeks and wondering how long they are again going to be without power.

I spent Friday morning visiting people in Ballinlough outside Roscommon who were without power. I engaged with Deputy Fitzmaurice throughout the weekend about the large number of people without power all across Roscommon. Deputy Kerrane has social media posts with pictures showing these corridors. We all know where the problem is. The ESB needs support for it. We need to enact this Bill. We must compensate forestry owners. We must deliver on this.

The 29 July press release referred to the winter 2025 grid resilience plan. One of the calls in that regard is for "a formal storm review to identify recommendations to prepare for future storms". It is too late for that. We cannot wait for another review on this. This is a problem people are experiencing on the ground today and it must be prioritised. An emergency must be declared in Roscommon or the western part of the country to deal with this. Everybody knows the problem.

I have a letter from a lady I met on Monday. She was going around to her neighbours trying to get them to sign it before sending it in. I will not give her name.

Once again, over the weekend, power lines were brought down where they run through forestry in our local area. This is now the second time [since August] this has happened on this section of the line. The same stretch was damaged during Storm Floris in August when forestry trees fell on the line. Then, during the storm in January, a feeder line from this main line was also brought down in the forestry due to falling trees.

In total, the local area has been without electricity for over three and a half weeks ... [so far this year].

While we all understand that storms are outside anyone's control, what is within the control of ESB Networks is the management and removal of trees that are too close to power lines. It is clear that these trees continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat. Unless this is addressed, the next storm will undoubtedly cause the same problem again.

I have also been in contact with Coillte regarding this matter, and they have confirmed that ESB Networks is responsible for managing vegetation around power lines.

I do not believe that is the case. A multi-agency approach is required. We need to enact this plan and we need to be strong on this. I welcome the Minister of State's statement on the matter.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Scahill for raising this matter. I apologise that the Minister is not here. I appreciate the Senator's comments on the importance of Ministers addressing these issues when Senators raise them. I am aware Senator Scahill has been very active in raising this matter.

The Minister has asked me to make the following statement. At the beginning of this year Storm Éowyn caused unprecedented electricity outages and exposed critical vulnerabilities in our grid system arising from unmanaged vegetation and the proximity of forestry to infrastructure. Following the storm and consultation with utility operators, the Minister has directed officials at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment to explore legislative provisions to safeguard electricity infrastructure when passing through forestry. Heads of the Bill were approved by the Government for priority drafting on the 29 July.

The electricity (supply)(amendment) Bill will update the Electricity (Supply) Act 1927 to provide for enhanced vegetation management powers for ESB Networks. It will provide a statutory basis for the establishment and maintenance of forestry corridors - areas within a given distance of the electricity network within which forestry vegetation and related activities can be restricted by law. The Bill will protect the rights of affected landowners by establishing a framework for compensation. It will also attach maintenance responsibilities to landowners for the upkeep of forestry corridors, with backstop powers for ESB Networks to intervene where required. The Bill will uphold our environmental obligations under European law, confirming the applicability of the habitats and birds directives. It will also outline screening thresholds for environmental impact assessments, in keeping with the requirements of the Planning and Development Acts.

The Department is working with legal counsel from the Office of the Attorney General and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to progress drafting, ensuring consistency with the forestry licensing regime established under the Forestry Act 2014. In drafting this legislation, the Department will engage with all relevant stakeholders to ensure the Bill protects the rights of landowners and is in keeping with Ireland's afforestation and environmental goals. Consultation on specific aspects of legislation, including the dimensions of corridors and principles for engaging with landowners and compensation, will include multiple Departments and bodies and the wider forestry and landowner representative bodies through a series of workshops. Members should note that these works are not expected to result in direct costs to the Exchequer, as costs associated with improvements to grid resilience are typically covered by network tariffs set as part of periodic price reviews which are under the oversight of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

In parallel with this legislation, in the wake of Storm Éowyn the Government directed ESB Networks to prepare a winter 2025 resilience plan. This plan was published in April and implementation continues. Post-storm patrols of the transmission and 38 kV network have been completed, with the vast majority of priority hazards made safe. The survey of the medium-voltage network is complete, with high-priority resilience issues identified. Analysis of customers most affected by treefall has identified priority areas for remediation. Timber harvesters were procured and began to cut timber during the summer. Replenishment of ESB Networks' emergency stocks of spare parts and materials to double its previous capacity is now 80% complete. Medium-term staffing and contractor resources are to be increased through the provision of targeted training programmes via the education and training boards. To address capacity shortages, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment have progressed permits for skilled workers from outside the EU to advance urgent forestry work.

ESB Networks is leading a working group to establish formal arrangements with European distribution system operators for mutual aid during extreme weather. An agreement is drafted with ratification targeted for October. External consultants have been appointed to carry out a review of international storm experiences. Meanwhile, ESB Networks is currently concluding a formal review of its response to Storm Éowyn.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State very much for the response. A total of 768,000 customers were without electricity in February. We face another winter with the same uncertainty. Probably the only certainty is the chance that we will have power outages.

I could bring anybody in the Chamber to forestry in west Roscommon right now and show them which trees are going to come down and take out which power lines and knock out which group of people in the coming weeks. My constituents and the people of the west deserve to get support on this. They deserve a network that is resilient and our efforts to rectify this problem, which everybody spoke about in February and March but, as of this moment in time, we are still facing another winter with the same problem.

In the last line of the Minister's press statement it states, "The legislation and the regulations it will enable will strike an appropriate balance – between infrastructure resilience, the viability of the forestry sector, environmental impact and control of costs." We are looking for that to happen in a timely manner. We want action now.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I very much appreciate the Senator's sentiments he expressed regarding the importance of timing. I will take every opportunity to convey that and the other comments made by him today to the Minister. I have no doubt he will also continue to engage directly with the Minister on this very important issue. I appreciate that it is vitally important to his constituents that they have this type of information and an update on timing.The Government is committed to learning the lessons of Storm Éowyn. As I said, the legislation and the accompanying resilience plan are being progressed as a matter of priority, in keeping with the programme for Government commitments to prioritise investment in our electricity grid. I will, of course, pass the Senator's comments directly to the Minister.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, for coming to the House today.