Storm Éowyn was the first test for this Government in the new Dáil term. It took almost three weeks for power and connectivity to be restored to all homes, farms, schools, businesses and clubs. The Government failed its first test. Lessons have to be learned. Ministers cannot just sit in meetings or berate Internet providers, because we will have another storm like Storm Éowyn. Power and connectivity will be lost again, especially in rural Ireland, and we must do everything to mitigate the risks. We must take proactive steps now and into the future to remove potential threats to the network. Storm Éowyn damaged or took down more than 6,000 telephone poles, which had to be replaced, along with vast expanses of cable. The majority of this damage was caused by extreme wind and diseased and damaged trees. The length and breadth of this country, there are elderly people doing their best to live independently but who rely on health-monitoring and pendant alarms. When that damage was caused, a number of elderly and vulnerable people had no monitoring in place for an extended period of time throughout the country. This is not acceptable. Our citizens' lives are at risk if they cannot call for help. I have asked questions on this matter of the Department. The Department formed the telecommunications response and resilience group, the purpose of which the Government has said is to promote resilience and high availability of Ireland’s telecommunications infrastructure and provide a co-ordinated sectoral emergency response capability. So far, no proactive steps have been taken to address the damaged or diseased trees. The Government has said that the issues of vegetation and forestry management and vulnerable persons are, per the review of Storm Éowyn published in October by the Department of housing, complex and multisectoral and will likely require an all-of-government approach. It has been a year since Storm Éowyn, so what is this proactive multidepartment approach and is connectivity for vulnerable people using a health-monitoring or pendant alarm a priority of same?

Sentiment score: -0.20

There are clear, proactive actions that can be taken by the Government. The Government can review the tree-cutting capabilities each local authority has so that it can respond adequately when we have another storm event and tackle trees on public land. The Government can ensure landowners are complying with the Roads Act 1993 to remove diseased or damaged roadside trees throughout the State. The Department should, and must, engage with pendant providers to identify who the vulnerable users are and what type of network they are connected to. The expert advice we have received is that home-monitoring and health alarm customers should be migrated from copper landline-dependent devices to newer hardware devices with a mobile network backup. Home-monitoring and health alarm customers should be migrated onto more modern devices that will work with fibre to the home, FTTH, broadband where such networks are available to them. FTTH networks are significantly more resilient to storm damage than copper landline networks and are more easily repaired. We should maintain a stock of monitoring devices that work with mobile networks and can be deployed by the providers following major storms to impacted customers who are likely to experience extended fixed-line outages.

Sentiment score: -0.00