Letters to the Editor: Vulnerable suffer most amid Ireland's failing electricity network
Resilience And On Stock Must A Management Its Ireland Act Crisis Picture Reader Says Energy Better
While recent media coverage of Ireland’s electricity outages during storms is often softened with imagery of candlelit dinners and cosy firesides, the reality for many — particularly the elderly, vulnerable, and those in isolated rural areas — was far from idyllic.
My experience during a recent storm, where I endured a full week without electricity, water, heating, or cooking facilities, reveals a starkly different narrative.
Storm-related power outages are increasingly severe due to issues with the electricity infrastructure, much of which is exposed to damage from forestry plantations and inadequate maintenance of plantations and infrastructure.
According to ESB Networks, fallen trees and strong winds are the primary causes of outages, with storms like Ashley leaving more than 53,000 homes and businesses without power, many for several days.
The lack of immediate local crew availability and poor coordination among contractors further exacerbated delays.
Workers I spoke with reported being left idle for hours awaiting instructions or lacking the necessary equipment to fix faults promptly. My own reconnection, taking less than half an hour to fix, was de-prioritised for days despite being an easily resolvable issue.
The media often neglects to highlight the chaos and danger caused by these outages. Vulnerable customers, including those reliant on medical devices, were left without support. Emergency services failed to provide generators, clean drinking water, or heating solutions for isolated communities.
The token meal for some was inaccessible to many. As a vulnerable customer, I received four text messages stating that electricity would not be restored that night, contradicting the emergency helpline which assured me throughout the day that power would be restored the same day.
This conflicting and inaccurate communication left me unable to make informed decisions regarding my safety and health.
Vulnerable households rely on clear, reliable information to make alternative arrangements or mitigate risks during extended outages.
Instead, the lack of accurate updates forced many, including myself, to endure freezing temperatures, no running water, and poor sanitation conditions, with no means to prepare adequately for these hardships.
While ESB workers and contractors did their best under difficult conditions, the management of response efforts was seriously deficient. The absence of clear priorities, resources for quick fixes, and communication with the public reflected poor crisis planning.
Moreover, reports show that Ireland’s energy infrastructure — including ageing power lines and its exposure to adverse weather — remains vulnerable, needing long-term upgrades to withstand future storms.
This experience highlights the urgent need for an honest dialogue about Ireland’s energy resilience and better crisis management. It is time to shatter the saccharine narrative and focus on actionable solutions to ensure that nobody is left behind in future emergencies.
As communities prepare to spend quality time with their loved ones this Christmas, we at EirGrid would like to thank the people of East Cork and the wider region for their support and collaboration throughout 2024, as we progress the delivery of the Celtic Interconnector project.
Since construction began in November 2023, significant milestones have been achieved in both Ireland and France with the support of communities who will host this grid infrastructure.
This progress brings us another step closer to achieving our climate objectives and in helping to make Ireland’s electricity supply more secure.
We look forward to continuing to work with local stakeholders and communities to reach further key milestones on the project.
We also look forward to continuing to collaborate with community groups and support community projects through the Celtic Interconnector Community Benefit Fund into 2025.
In the meantime, from everyone at EirGrid, we would like to wish readers in Cork a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.
The mandatory continuation of utility bills for electricity and gas by energy suppliers in a situation where the occupant of a house has died and the property is vacant should be brought to an end.
It appears that these accounts cannot be suspended until the property is sold or rented, and have to be perpetually paid or face physical disconnection.
This is not fair or right in any way and forces next of kin to throw away money on an empty house.
Probate can take a very long time in this country and, in the meantime, ongoing standing charges have to be paid or else the energy supplier comes out with the snips.
It should be possible to suspend the accounts until the property is sold or rented, which is currently not the case unless it is a council property.
The situation at the moment is that the energy suppliers are saying if a next of kin closes the account(s), then the energy supplier will physically disconnect. This is insidious, conceited, and designed to make money for reconnection.
Since 2007, Save our sons and daughters charity (Sosad) has worked to raise awareness and help prevent suicide in Ireland.
They have worked tirelessly in communities to help those in need feel supported and know they are not alone on their journey.
Sosad offers their support and services to people who are struggling with suicidal ideation, self harming, depression, bereavement, stress, and anxiety, or if people just simply need to talk.
I was somewhat discombobulated to learn that, due to an unfortunate turn of events, funding that was promised to the charity by the outgoing minister of state for mental health Mary Butler has not been delivered.
There is now a palpable fear that this charity is now on the brink of collapse, leaving hundreds without care. Sosad had a recent meeting with Ms Butler in which she said that she would fund the charity in the short-term, allied to looking at the long-term funding.
Ostensibly this meeting was at the beginning of November and the charity has not heard anything since. Ms Butler may now be the outgoing minister, but nevertheless she had this meeting with Sosad — where she stated funds would be provided.
This is an aspect of politics that does not sit easy with me where a minister makes a commitment and then fails to deliver on same.
In a characteristic show of weakness from the outgoing Government, there has been no criticism of the illegal and devastating strikes by Israel on Syria.
Remember when Iran sent a strong, but calculatedly non-lethal, signal to Israel with a barrage of targeted strikes on military targets?
The Department of Foreign Affairs immediately put out a statement condemning Iran.
Following the pack of European wolves, as it were, who are happy to condemn Iran, but cry falsely about Israel’s “right to self-defence”.
If the world (or at least the western view of it) wasn’t upside down, it would make absolute logical sense for Iran to completely destroy Israel’s military capabilities, if an argument of self-defence was valid.
But they held back, and were hypocritically condemned for it.
Israel is now doing that to newly liberated Syria, and not a peep about it from our Government.
Britain actually defended the genocidal army from Iran by shooting down missiles from their colonial base on Cyprus.
Who will defend Syria from Israel now that their military capability is destroyed?
What is the sudden fuss about religion being forced down the throats of young children and their being told what they must believe?
The Catholic Church has been doing this in Ireland since the time of Home Rule but suddenly, now that the Church of Ireland has decided to get in on the act, it’s not acceptable?
It was never acceptable, but it was encouraged when the Roman Catholic Church did it. The rules must apply to everyone.