Cathaoirleach of Leitrim County Council Councillor Paddy O'Rourke has called for a "root and branch change" of forestry regulation following extensive damage fallen trees caused to powerlines during Storm Éowyn.
A public meeting held in Balllinamore, Co Leitrim heard personal stories of people who were almost three weeks without power as well as proposed solutions.
Maureen Martin, Chairperson of Ballinamore Area Community Council, told RTÉ News the meeting was due to community concerns in the aftermath of the outages.
"The community council covers five areas, Aughawillan, Aughnasheelan, Ballinamore, Cooraleehan and Drumreilly. Coraleehan was without power for 20 days. They felt they hadn’t been listened to and they were left behind."
Clare Rehill from Coraleehan told the meeting she was almost three weeks without power.
"I’ve got two small children. It was quite difficult…I had the two children in the bed with me to keep warm with hot water bottles.
"We moved into a caravan to try and stay warm during the day but I’m grateful we have a caravan.
"We’re told these storms will intensify over the years. Will we be in the same boat next year? Hopefully, the national Government will take it more seriously," she said.
'Covid didn't shake me but this did'
Tina McLaughlin, who lives a few kilometres outside of Ballinamore, told of how trees took down the electricity wire near her home and was almost three weeks without power.
"When my neighbour’s power returned they gave me a generator, but I couldn’t start it because I’m 73 years of age and I had to get somebody to start it for me. It was great to have it," she said.
Ms McLaughlin added: "Covid didn’t shake me, but this did. It made me feel hopeless. I come from a farming background and if plan A doesn’t work - we go for a plan B. I didn’t feel able for it. I was upset and frightened. It really scared me".
Michael McTague from Ballinamore said people in the area are still affected with broadband outages and people feel they were left behind.
"We must put infrastructure in place that’s fit for purpose. At a national level, the Government needs to look at the forestation of our county.
"That’s the reason people in our county were without power for 19 days.
"We can’t stop storms. Changes need to be made immediately to widen corridors in forests so there’s no impact on [power] infrastructure."
Cllr O’Rourke said the issue "was happening on small scale for a number of years but now it has happened on a grand scale".
"We need to deal with the regulation of forestry, where plantations can take place adjacent to important networks of power lines.
We also need to seek a more effective response that kicks-in earlier and delivers more to the people on the ground because we here in the northwest were left badly wanting," Cllr O’Rourke said.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Flattened
Swathes of forests in the northwest were flattened by record breaking winds.
A Government taskforce looking at managing forests damaged during Storm Éowyn and supporting foresters met for the first time earlier this month.
Brian Smyth from the Save Leitrim group called for another taskforce to be established to include further stakeholders.
"There are so many different agencies that have a hand in the problem and a hand in the solution from the ESB, Coillte, Department of Agriculture, landowners, forest owners and the community that’s affected.
"Based on what we heard tonight, a taskforce must be set up to bring those stakeholders bodies together.
"If Government don’t set that up, I think they’re following the timber industry and sorting out their issues, not what happened here for three weeks," Mr Smyth said.
Sligo-Leitrim TD and Minister of State for Higher Education Marian Harkin attended the meeting and said "there was a certain amount of anger and annoyance" at the meeting.
"We don’t have the corridors in the forestry. Over a year ago, I raised this in Dáil Éireann to ask what is going to be done about it.
"When we have these storms, we have no control over what happened and then people are left without power, electricity and phone coverage.
"This has been happening on a small scale but not it’s happening on a large scale. We need to move quickly to ensure in 12 months or two years’ time this does continue to happen," she said.
Ms Harkin added: "Policies need to be put in place immediately and visible to make sure we are making progress; whether it’s around corridors for power lines, whether it’s around generators for institutions that serve communities.
"A package is needed. There is no silver bullet that will deal with it today but there are lots of actions that can be taken that mean in six, 12, 18 months’ time that the system is much more resilient and less likely to fail."
