Mattie McGrath Urges Village Hubs, Praises Emergency Workers
Mattie McGrath spoke about emergency response and community resilience, praising emergency workers and urging local hubs to be equipped with generators. He called for trees along ESP lines and roads to be cleared, commended farmers for community assistance, and expressed sympathy for people still without power.
Praise for emergency workers
Mattie McGrath thanked and praised emergency workers from across the country and from overseas in Northern Ireland, singling out the ESP and noting their efforts in difficult situations. He emphasised appreciation for crews who kept roads open and enabled people to get in and out of affected areas.
Proposal for community hubs and generators
He proposed establishing village hubs in community halls and similar spaces to provide phone charging, showers and practical support for half a parish from a single location. McGrath said these hubs should be equipped or funded to purchase generators to maintain basic services during outages.
Role of farmers and safety concerns
McGrath highlighted that farmers stepped up to help communities, clearing trees and assisting neighbours, and stressed that common-sense safety should prevail when dealing with fallen wires. He criticised excessive "heads and safety" red tape in the context of rapid local assistance while warning of real dangers around fallen lines.
Infrastructure and tree clearing
He urged maintenance of clear felled corridors where ESP lines run through forestry and called for removal of overhanging roadside trees to prevent future damage. McGrath expressed sympathy for people in very remote areas still waiting for power to be restored.
Personal account and sign-off
McGrath recounted a personal incident of a tree falling on him, underlining the seriousness of roadside tree management. He finished with a social sign-off, asking viewers to like, share and subscribe and inviting comments.
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Let's dive into the discussions shaping the nation. I too want to thank and praise the emergency workers from all over the country and from overseas in Northern Ireland and all the emergency workers especially the ESP and the ESP always do their best in all kinds of trying situations and I think we're going to have to seriously examine this I spoke to the teacher about it and regarding having you know hubs set up in most villages have you know G Hall, Community Hall and Ruddy Mershin and they have many of them now have as you know spaces for working from local hubs and everything else so we're going to have to equip these people or give them grants to purchase generators because one central hub could look after half the parish as regards charging phones, as regards showers, as regarding you know practical issues like that and in aptly called the Kela is a great phrase and it's into the Mehel so we need that kind of approach a Mehel propose that people will support each other and again the farmers of Ireland came out and showed that they care for the communities and the help to everybody regarding clearing trees and everything else and the old horrible word of heads and safety, too much heads and safety went out the window they have to be careful on a Cormac or Fod be careful with falling wires and things like that but they are careful they have many of them have very very experienced in dealing with all kinds of situations but roads were open and people could get out and people get in and I really do sympathise with the people who are still waiting to get power back in very remote areas but years ago everything where the ESP lines went through forestry there was a clear fell past I had in my own area where he's been installed in the 90s for a cousin of mine and there was a whole with the chamber cleared away and this must be maintained and we must ensure that trees along the roadside as well must be removed because a tree fell on me one time when I was moving along with my mum and brother and it's an awful experience that was a summer's day so any trees that are overhanging should be cut back good morning like share and subscribe and let us know your thoughts in the comments we'd love to hear from you
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