The postition of the Government and its response to the damage done by Storm Éowyn is being hammered since Tuesday and the visit of the Taoiseach to Roscommon. Rumblings of disquiet had begun prior to this trip, but touching base with locals on the ground, the Taoiseach was left in no doubt as to the depth of feeling among locals there who are still struggling without power and water.
You can’t but feel for people who remain without the basics of electricity and water. In a first world country, in 2025, it’s a shocking state of affairs. In this instance, however, it’s hard to find too much fault with with the Government response.
We were warned ahead of time that this would be potentially one of the most damaging storms to ever hit the country, and while we heeded this, most of us did not foresee the level of damage done.
With over 700,000 without power at the peak, this storm hit as hard as a hurricance and did damage that even the most dramatic report couldn’t have foreseen.
Plans put in place to deal with the issues aligned with voluntary community response saw many people looked after in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Round the clock repair work and opening of local support hubs has restored connection for huge swathes of the population, but for far too many, it will be many days yet.
The issue with lambasting a Government about their lack of preparation is that there is no precedent for this level of damage. There has never been a storm as damaging and from this standpoint, there was no possible way to predict what might be requireed.
What it has done is highlighted numerous weaknesses in our grid and our basic supply of utilities. This is something we can now act upon and take measures to ensure we are safeguarded in the event of future storms of this level.
The problem with being prepared is that you cannot be prepared for something that you don’t know is going to happen. The Government was prepared for massive outages and huge levels of damage across the country. However, if this storm was so far above anything we have ever experienced and anything we have ever had to plan for before, to expect the Government to cover every base with a proactive plan is not realistic.
It is unfortunate, but turning on each other in this time of need will not restore anyone’s utilities quicker. Reviewing what happened last Friday and planning for the future may.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.