I am very glad to co-sponsor this legislation with my colleague, Martin Kenny. For those living in Roscommon and Galway, the people I represent, and particularly for those in north Roscommon, no part of Roscommon is immune from trees falling on power lines during storms. Storm Éowyn really put a spotlight on the issue, with householders at the time left for 15, 16, 17 or more days with no electricity, no water and in some cases no heating either. We have a vicious circle when this happens. A storm comes. There is huge damage. We talk about what needs to be done and all the failures but nothing happens. When a storm hits, I get a call from certain people in my community and I know what they are going to say: the trees have fallen and the electricity is down. It is important to acknowledge the ESB workers given the sites they have to go out to as well as those engaged in tree felling and tree services and what they have to try to deal with and the conditions they have to endure when they are under pressure to get power back. This issue needs to be resolved once and for all. We need to do right by those householders who, when a storm comes and trees fall causing major issues, suffer outages for days on end. This is something that can be solved. For new forestry now being planted when we have the new forestry programme, we need to ensure that we get this right. We have to do that for householders and particularly for vulnerable customers. Being on a vulnerable customer list with ESB does not mean much bar an acknowledgement and some bit of notice of a power outage if that is possible. This is something the Government has a say on. It is something that we can do and we can make a difference. We can end that vicious circle for householders in rural areas who pay a lot more for their electricity than those in other parts but then suffer from outages. It is not right and I ask Members to support the Bill.

Sentiment score: -0.07