Independent Ireland TD, Michael Fitzmaurice, has called on the government to provide a grant for generators to every household, in response to the damage caused by Storm Éowyn.
Deputy Fitzmaurice expressed concern about the situation in the west of Ireland, where thousands of people are still without water and power.
“There are an awful lot of areas with no water for cattle. What some farmers in some communities have done, they clean one tanker and work together to bring water from a river to make sure cattle have water,” he said.
“Communities rallied together to get roads cleared. The summation of the ESB lines, phone lines, and the new broadband is damning, and it’s all because of trees falling on powerlines.”
The TD for Roscommon-Galway praised the ESB’s response to the storm, but highlighted the scale of the project to restore water and power in the worst hit areas.
“In fairness the ESB are working, but there are some roads, and I’ve been on them, there are poles broken, and the wires. It’s not about rejoining the wire, some roads will need a full new line it’s broken in that many places,” he said.
Deputy Fitzmaurice believes that generators are the solution to preparing the country for future storms.
“Every bit of the water network is underground, it’s not over ground. All we need is generators where the pumps are, or where the boosters are. The government needs to put a big emphasis on that, and give the money to the local authorities.”
Deputy Fitzmaurice told Agriland: “They [the government] needs to give a grant for generators to every household, not alone every farmer, but to every household.”
Generators
Deputy Fitzmaurice believes there needs to be a strong government response to the storm.
“The first thing they should be doing when this is all over, a regulation needs to come in with financial support. When we look at what this is going to cost, it’s an enormous figure,” he said.
“They should bring in a regulation, that any forestry tree over 2m that’s 30m away from a powerline, communications line, or a road has to be cut. End of story, there’s no ifs or buts about this. We cannot put up with what has gone on this time.”
According to the TD, the forestry industry has been severely impacted, and needs to be protected.
“They need to put in a compensation fund for who put in forestry in private lands, because it’s over for them. It has rooted the trees up, that’s how serious it is. The spruce trees are upside down, I’ve never seen anything like it.”