Michael Fitzmaurice urges immediate aid after storm devastation
Michael Fitzmaurice spoke about widespread storm damage across the west, northwest and Midlands and criticised official emergency responses. He called for immediate practical aid — generator grants, suspension of agricultural inspections, direct funding for repairs and stricter forestry corridor controls.
Communities, contractors and farmers were praised for clearing roads and responding rapidly after the storm. Fitzmaurice described widespread loss of power, water and communications, with many households, elderly people and those with health needs left without support for days.
He complimented the ESB for its work but criticised other official responses and logistics, citing delays for overseas contractor lorries held up by customs at Hollyhead and the absence of coordinated calls for the Red Cross or the army. He said phone and broadband networks failed and some councils were not permitted to act promptly.
Fitzmaurice blamed forestry corridors and fallen trees for bringing down three-phase lines and damaging parts of the national broadband infrastructure (NBI). He named providers and called on authorities to force faster repairs to restore phone and internet services for affected areas.
He urged urgent, direct funding for farmers who lost sheds and stock housing, not reviews or task forces. He demanded generator grants be extended to water infrastructure, schools and creches, called for agricultural inspections to be suspended for a month and asked that acreage inspections be abandoned for three months to avoid penalising those who suffered damage. He welcomed the minister's hotel arrangements but said supports should have been available on day one.
Fitzmaurice warned that a large portion of national forestry is in trouble and pressed for concrete financial assistance rather than meetings and delayed reports. He argued recovery requires immediate money for repairs, housing, food costs and rebuilding local services rather than further discussion.
Storm damage and community response
Communities, contractors and farmers were praised for clearing roads and responding rapidly after the storm. Fitzmaurice described widespread loss of power, water and communications, with many households, elderly people and those with health needs left without support for days.
Failures in official emergency systems
He complimented the ESB for its work but criticised other official responses and logistics, citing delays for overseas contractor lorries held up by customs at Hollyhead and the absence of coordinated calls for the Red Cross or the army. He said phone and broadband networks failed and some councils were not permitted to act promptly.
Infrastructure and broadband damage
Fitzmaurice blamed forestry corridors and fallen trees for bringing down three-phase lines and damaging parts of the national broadband infrastructure (NBI). He named providers and called on authorities to force faster repairs to restore phone and internet services for affected areas.
Immediate measures demanded for farmers and households
He urged urgent, direct funding for farmers who lost sheds and stock housing, not reviews or task forces. He demanded generator grants be extended to water infrastructure, schools and creches, called for agricultural inspections to be suspended for a month and asked that acreage inspections be abandoned for three months to avoid penalising those who suffered damage. He welcomed the minister's hotel arrangements but said supports should have been available on day one.
Forestry corridors and long-term recovery needs
Fitzmaurice warned that a large portion of national forestry is in trouble and pressed for concrete financial assistance rather than meetings and delayed reports. He argued recovery requires immediate money for repairs, housing, food costs and rebuilding local services rather than further discussion.
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Transcript
Mr Corlin, I want to wish you the best, Mr Corlin, I want to wish you the best, last Thursday night week, or Friday morning, right around this country, especially in the west, the northwest and the Midlands, devastation came upon a lot of families, and while it was warned, I think that it surprised some people with the devastation that it happened, but on the following morning, I want to first of all compliment communities, not government responses, communities that went out, contractors that went out, farmers that went out with their tractors and loaders, and over a two-day period, they cleared all the roads, an actual fact, in some areas, councils weren't allowed until four o'clock in the evening, which is regrettable, because local communities had done the work to shift trees out of the way. The devastation was huge, no water, no electricity, people called in their house, but to start off then, in fairness to the ESB, and I want to compliment the ESB and the amount of work they have done, the sick and in fact is, I talked to a contractor that was bringing lorries from England, the Poland lorries, and their lorries came to Hollyhead, they weren't able to get on the boat, because the customs here were actually, through paperwork, holding them up. In an emergency, in an emergency, this is what Ireland done, they had to drive from Liverpool to Scotland, and they lost a day in doing their works. That is, someone, somewhere, should have written an order and said, in an emergency, these lorries are led through. People around this country, or around the west of Ireland especially, it was as if they didn't exist. There was no communications, phones wouldn't work, no broadband, everything in total disarray. And the sad part about it is, the likes of the Red Cross or the army weren't called out, where the elderly were abandoned, people with underlying health problems were abandoned, hospital beds we had to get generations to try and get people up. That is the type of devastation, young kids in houses that came home after being born, people with sleep apnea, and all of this was left high and dry. Schools, water, and we have talked about water, Irish water had no plan for this, none plan whatsoever with generators. Group water schemes, and in all fairness, I must compliment Michael Shield, and I must compliment the Federation cardinal in our area, where they started making contact, and trying to get generators out. DBOs, that was done, the suppliers, the likes of Violi and those, decided for a few days to sit in their hands, until they were kicked around the place to try and get up and running, to get going. That should not be accepted, and we should never be accepted. And if we learn one thing, what's the common denominator that has caused this problem? Yes, everyone knows that it was a storm. Yes, everyone knows that it was one of the worst ever we had. What was the big problem? Go right around this country and look at the corridors that's left in the forest. And forests have caused huge problems right around this country. The corridors are not 35 metres each side, and they have taken down the main three-phase lines. Right around the countryside, trees everywhere have knocked down wires, but on top of that, they have devastated the broadband. We have spent a lot of money on the broadband right around this country. They have devastated, made bits of the NBI broadband system. And the likes of AIR, who some factories might have more working for them than they have today. I don't know, it's hard to get them to fix the phone. Not a mind to go back and ask them to start putting this together, and they need to do it fairly rapid. And I think the government needs to make them do that. Farmers were left without water, but Minister, there are things we need to do. Regulation on trees. In the line of the farmers, we need to make sure the sheds that have been taken away, sheds have just disappeared in places. And yes, the horticulture sector as well. But those sheds, funding needs to be given away. Not task forces, not reviews. Farmers, communities, tiny towns that have to take up debris, councils, communities, and people that had to pay extra money for food, needs pounds, sheds and pins. Not a review, not a task force, not something down the road. Because this work has to start now. There are cattle in sheds that don't have a roof over their head. There are cows going to be soon calfing, where the calf shed is gone. This is where we need action. On top of that, and through Thames, there is a generator grant through Thames, but it needs to be for the normal generator. We need to get the likes of water infrastructure, schools, creches, and all of that, to make sure that we have backup. Inspections in the agricultural sector should be suspended for one month. Not, sort of, we'll go easy. In acres, where fences have been brought down to the neighbour's farm. We should abandon acres inspections for the next three months. And if we don't do that, we are going to kick the people that have suffered torture. In forestry, and the corridors need to be done in forestry, we need to make sure that those people that 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, it is destroyed. The wind blow is unbelievable right through the forestry. It is estimated that 40% of the forestry of this country is in trouble. And what are we going to do? Well, we're going to get Chagas and a few of them to meet up and have a bit of a chat and a cup of tea, and we'll talk about it next week or the week after. This is about money. This is about people that couldn't cook in their houses, that had to buy meals out, that had to try and rent accommodation. They have paid out the money. I welcome what Minister Kileary done in basically putting the thing in the hotels, but that should be done the first day. People needed to know. There is huge question marks. There are elderly people that have trees within their gardens. They don't know will the humanitarian fund give it or will they not. And the one thing we need to do is a huge effort or a huge amount of funding for the councils to try and undo the hanging branches on what's going on around.