NEW Forestry Minister Michael Healy-Rae is waging war on trees that are positioned too close to ESB lines.
It’s in a bid to prevent a repeat of the mass power outages caused by Storm Eowyn.
The ESB predicts the vast majority of people will have their power back in the coming days[/caption]
Nearly 3,000 people are now working with the ESB to restore power[/caption]
Michael Healy-Rae is waging war on trees that are positioned too close to ESB lines[/caption]
Up to 100,000 people remain without power and 2,800 without water seven days after the brutal storm with fears that some remote areas could be in the dark for weeks.
An army of almost 3,000 workers from across Europe are now in Ireland working to get power back up and running.
The west and north west remain the worst impacted by the outages with people using tiny petrol generators to try and heat their homes while others stay wrapped up in bed to battle the cold.
Minister Healy-Rae told The Irish Sun: “We’re going to be very proactive about this in the future and try to ensure that everything that happened won’t happen again.
“The way I would envisage it is that where appropriate, contractors would be sent in because clearing those lines is a very skilled operation.
“Sometimes the terrain you are working on is very difficult.
“For example, in a place called Brosna during the recent snow, the weight of the snow on the cables meant that they snapped under pressure. We had a situation where I remember there were three helicopters in the air dropping personnel from the ESB into the middle of woods in a remote area.
“They had to do their repairs in this remote forest and then be picked up after so many hours by the helicopter again.
“I don’t want to see a situation where people’s lives will be put at risk doing that type of work.
“The knock-on effect afterwards when people are cut off from their ESB and telecommunications can put lives at risk so it is very serious work that has to be undertaken by people. We’re going to work very diligently.”
Four more large-scale generators arrived in Rosslare Port from Poland on Wednesday night with several more flown in from Denmark and Luxembourg yesterday.
Further international crews arrived in Ireland from Germany and the Netherlands with nearly 3,000 people now working with the ESB to restore power.
Minister of Defence Simon Harris has also been informed that a number of generators arrived at Dublin Airport from Romania yesterday and will be transported around the country by the Defence Forces.
All of these generators are being used by Irish Water to power treatment plants and get water running in people’s homes with 2,800 people remaining without water last night, drastically down from a high of 140,000 last week.
The record-breaking winds of Storm Eowyn pulled down trees across the country that destroyed power lines and left close to 800,000 people without power.
The ESB predicts the vast majority of people will have their power back in the coming days. However, people in remote areas will have to wait longer with outages running into February.
FOREST WINDBLOW TASKFORCE
A briefing provided to ministers said schools that were closed yesterday because of power outages will be back up and running in time to reopen on Monday.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin met with officials from the National Emergency Co-ordination Group as he pressed for increased humanitarian efforts for the regions still without power.
They discussed improving preparations for further extreme weather events as attention now turns to making Ireland’s infrastructure more resilient.
Minister Healy-Rae believes that farmers should also be protected from the cost of cutting back trees as he wants to see the State taking on this job to protect vital infrastructure.
The Department of Agriculture has created a new Forest Windblow Taskforce to bring together all the relevant agencies of the State to focus on the issue.
More than 150 emergency community hubs have been set up across the country to enable people to use showers and charge their phones.
Mother-of-three Lhara Mullins and her family have been without power for seven days at their homes in Co Galway and she feels they are being forgotten by the State.
She told RTE: “I suppose we feel a little bit forgotten about. I expected to see somebody.
RURAL AREAS STRUGGLING
“So this is the first time I’ve experienced this, you know, I’ve only been two years living in a rural area. I thought that somebody would knock on the door or that there would be a leaflet or a letter put in the door to say, look, this is what’s happening, we know you’re there, and there wasn’t. There was none of that. I haven’t seen anybody delivering aid.”
The family have been using a small generator to try and heat the home but the noise and smell is distressing for her children who are autistic.
She said: “We’re moving this little blow heater around the rooms but the noise and smell from the heater presents sensory issues for the kids. So everybody’s mood is low.”
Several healthcare clinics in Co Galway have been without power for the past week with Sinn Fein’s Mairead Farrell urging the State to prioritise health facilities when it comes to using generators.
ESB officials met with the Fine Gael parliamentary party in Leinster House on Wednesday night to brief them about the efforts to get power back up and running.
Minister for Disability Hildegarde Naughton admitted: “We do need to plan better the next time.
“When something like this happens, these designated hubs need to be identified now for the next time a storm happens.
“Those centres need to have generators in place, showering facilities and where people can get hot food, charge phones and know exactly where to go when this happens.
“I want to reassure people who are really angry, I hear them. They are contacting my office and we are doing everything we can to get their ESB restored. Communications and telecoms are important because if people cannot communicate, that is part of the fear.”
Workers clearing a fallen tree on Grove Park Drive in Dublin[/caption]
