Smith: Power lines must be free of obstacles to prevent repeat of storm outages

The difficulty of restoring power to Cavan and Monaghan in the aftermath of Strom Eowyn highlights the dire need of proper maintenance of power lines, said Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith.

Deputy Smith told the Dáil large numbers of constituents in Cavan and Monaghan remained without electricity supply two weeks after the storm, despite the hard work of frontline workers.

“Most of those people have difficulties with their telephone and broadband connectivity,” the Cavan-Monaghan deputy said. “Life is extremely difficult for people with health ailments and dependent on medical devices.

“The major cause of the power outage in our area has been trees falling on ESB transmission lines. It is clear that the corridors for ESB lines are not being maintained to the proper standard. If they were, we would not have such problems with trees falling and with other overgrown vegetation.”

Deputy Smith has repeatedly called for a vigorous inspection programme to be introduced to ensure Coillte and private landowners' plantations are properly maintained.

“Very regrettably, this has not happened," he said. "These issues need to be addressed now. If a small-scale livestock farmer slightly erred in their farming practices, they would have inspections and penalties imposed. Why is it not the same for large-scale forestry plantation owners?”

He also highlighted the need for forestry plantations to be spread throughout the country and not blanketed across certain counties.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin told Deputy Smith, in response, that one of the most immediate tasks is to ensure there are proper corridors along transmission lines.

“West Roscommon and Leitrim have huge issues with forests falling, or whole lines of Sitka spruce falling like dominoes onto the line. That can no longer be tolerated,” the Taoiseach said.

“We have asked the Ministers responsible – there has to be collaboration between Departments – to ensure we nail this once and for all to have clear space in order to prevent this type of thing from recurring. Then we need to go further by ensuring road safety and addressing further danger to power lines. When power lines come down, it is a huge health and safety issue for people.”

Deputy Smith also thanked the front line workers, the ESB and local authority workers as well as volunteers who all helped people, especially those who are vulnerable and left without power, water and connectivity in their homes.

“There must be a protocol to ensure that when an emergency arises, the statutory agencies know who may be vulnerable and who needs to be contacted to ensure they are safe and well. That can be addressed at national level. We should not be leaving it until the next storm. We should be addressing those issues now,” he added.