A 70-year-old woman, who struggled to look after her son who is paralysed from the shoulders down during the electricity blackout, has claimed an ESB crew suggested she should move out of her home as it could take up to four weeks to restore her electricity.
Lesley Wiggins lost her electricity supply after Storm Éowyn on Friday, January 24 at 3.15am and was visited by an ESB crew on Wednesday night, January 29 who allegedly suggested she should obtain alternative accommodation due to the large volume of trees that had fallen on power lines near her home.
However, this wasn’t an option for Ms Wiggins who doesn’t own any other dwelling and could only move to a premises that would have the facilities to cater for her son’s additional needs.
She has lauded the intervention of Councillor Pat Hayes who made representations to the ESB about her desperate situation, which prompted an ESB crew to travel from Kerry who cleared a large volume of trees before the same crew that was there the previous day came back and restored the power, which came back on Thursday night, January 30, at 10pm.
“We were knocked for six on Wednesday night and it is all due to Pat Hayes that we got the electricity back on Thursday night. The worst thing is not knowing when the electricity is going to be turned back on.
“If you know the electricity is going to be out for three or four days, you can sort of psyche yourself up. But not knowing and then being told it was going to be such a long time on Wednesday night was devastating.
In an interview with The Clare Champion, she recalled using two generators to keep the bed her son, Francis Kelly sleeps in inflated.
However, to conserve electricity she had to get up every three hours to turn Francis in the bed to ensure he didn’t get bed pressure sores.
Living in a rural area at Laccaroe Lower five kilometres from Feakle, Scariff and Bodyke, she believes more storm preventative work needs to be done clearing trees that are too close to power lines.
“In 2014, loads of trees came down in the area and our electricity was gone for about ten days. The same thing keeps happening all the time.
“It is much worse to lose electricity when you have someone who is relying on it to live. I was on a priority list but I was told the ESB I wasn’t a priority. I can’t understand this because when you have no electricity that is when you need it.
“It seems to be bananas to be on a priority list but when you really need it you are not a priority. We wouldn’t have electricity or water only for Councillor Hayes helped us,” she said.
Councillor Hayes said he was glad to be able to assist Ms Higgins who found herself in very challenging circumstances trying to look after her son.
Instead of posting information on social media, Councillor Hayes recalled he spent a lot of time helping vulnerable people who had no food or electricity.
One of his difficulties was the fact he didn’t have electricity or connectivity for four days after the storm.
An ESB spokesperson said all available ESB Networks crews and resources, partner contractors and international support are mobilised to restore power to homes, farms and businesses as soon as possible. Supporting the needs of customers most vulnerable to the loss of electricity supply is a key priority for ESB Networks.
“The ESB appreciate and acknowledge the difficulties that prolonged power outages have been causing to vulnerable customers.
“The ESB cannot prioritise power restoration to vulnerable customers due to the way in which power is restored on the network. Vulnerable customers are prioritised when they phone us and are answered directly by a customer contact centre agent.
“The ESB contacts all vulnerable customers by SMS to notify them if they are without power overnight. The ESB has been communicating daily with medically vulnerable customers through SMS daily during Storm Eowyn.
“The ESB are continuing to work closely with the National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) and other state agencies on the whole-of-government recovery response following Storm Éowyn,” he said.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.