Council to write to ESB, Eir and Eircom over local outages

Cavan County Council is to write to ESB Networks, Eircom and Eir requesting that they carry out a comprehensive report on overhead power lines, particularly those running through forested areas or adjacent to trees.

The move followed a notice of motion by Cllr Brendan Fay (Ind) who also highlighted how the lack of access to power lines was “causing difficulty in carrying out timely repairs”.

A second motion from Cllr John Paul Feeley (FF) asked that forestry companies complete an urgent programme of works to remove trees near to powerlines. He also requested Cavan County Council to ask the respective ministers for energy and agriculture to amend existing regulations “to protect services in communities from the reckless planting of trees”.

A third notice of motion on the matter was put forward by Cllr Peter McVitty (FG) who highlighted the “delays in getting ESB power restored after outages”.

Opening the debate, Cllr Fay said there was going to be “a lot more of this” in the future. “I’m calling on ESB to deal with these lines; identify where they are; and determine how close they are to trees,” he added.

Meanwhile, Cllr McVitty pointed to the impact on local communities. “Between Templeport and Corlough, there are 24 houses that are being negatively impacted because of the position the wires have been put in,” he revealed.

“Recently the power went out on a Sunday evening and it didn’t return until 6pm the following Friday. It then transpired that a tree fell on the power lines and these homes were left without power for five days. It is just ridiculous; there is an elderly lady living in one of those houses and it’s just not good enough that she has to deal with a situation like this. As soon as heavy rain or a snow storm comes again, these people will be left without electricity,” fumed the Ballyconnell man.

Cllr John Paul Feeley then highlighted how the issue wasn’t just confined to Corlough. It is happening in numerous areas across Co Cavan, he added. “Christmas week, we had six outages in Dowra over a number of days and it later emerged that a nearby forest was tripping the lines,” he highlighted.

“The forestry companies appear to be a law onto themselves and can get away with what they want. During that time, there was no water in sheds for cattle nor was there water in the homes that were impacted, so we made a decision as a community, to run a generator. It was the right thing to do despite the fact that the situation should not have arisen in the first instance.”

Cllr Feeley went on to tell the meeting that forestry companies needed to start treating the people in communities where they operate “with respect”.

“The planting of hundreds of Sikta Spruce in an area where these companies knew this would happen is an absolute disgrace,” he lambasted.

“Phone lines are also out and I know an elderly couple who do not have mobile phones and are dependent on their landline to receive calls from their family in Australia. When this happens, they can’t communicate with their family.”

Cllr Shane P O’Reilly (Ind) then told the meeting that there were nine breakages on a power line in Cross, recently. He said it was imperative that Eircom be included in any letters that Cavan County Council was sending on foot of the three notices of motion put forward. “I have been trying to sort out the matter but it wasn’t until I contacted Comreg - three and a half weeks later - that the problem was finally addressed,” Cllr O’Reilly contended.

“They fixed the line but the real problem here is that we have people living in Mullagh who moved from Dublin because they can work from home and live in rural Ireland at the same time. But when this problem arose, some of those people found themselves having to go back to Dublin to work because they had no wifi or broadband access locally to do their jobs.”

Aontú's Sarah O’Reilly then raised another problem that is negatively impacting communication services in local areas. “Eir poles are rotten and they are snapping,” she fumed, before adding that “this should never have been allowed to happen”.

“There is a cost to the local authority to replace this infrastructure and I would like a breakdown of those costs including clean up costs because when this happens, Cavan County Council has to remove the debris,” she added.

The motions received unanimous support following the discussion.