Better communication is needed to avert future Kildare storm damage

A combination of lack of electricity and lack of water supply in West Kildare following the storm could have been easily avoided.

A call for stronger lines of communication between Kildare County Council and organisations like ESB Networks and Uisce Éireann have been made by local politicians.

They came at a KCC meeting, which was held in the immediate aftermath of Storm Éowyn, which left thousands of households around the county without power or water.

READ NEXT Search stood down for 17-year-old teen missing for over 2 weeks

Cllr Brendan Wyse said much of the hardship created could have been avoided.

“None can deny that our teams on the ground executing council related emergency response work performed their duties exceptionally well (but) the inter agency coordination was non-existent,” he said.

Cllr Wyse said he understood that there was no coordination between Uisce Éireann and the ESB regarding the lack of power supply to pump water to the reservoir on the Hill of Allen. “Although Uisce Éireann stated in a press release that generators had been mobilised to some reservoirs, this was not the case for Allen, resulting in 15,000 people without water with many already without power.”

Cllr Brendan Wyse

He said tankers were put in place late on Saturday afternoon, but the locations were not communicated to councillors ”who were dealing with a constant stream of queries from the public with zero communication and support from public bodies”

Most of the councillors praised the efforts of KCC staff during and after the extreme weather event and the staff were also defended by chief executive Sonya Kavanagh.

Ms Kavanagh said she understood too that councillors will have come under fire from members of the public.

She added that KCC’s response would be reviewed and the council would report back to the councillors.

Social Democrats councillor Chris Pender criticised the level of information provided to councillors saying “emails were sporadic” and he added this was unfair on the people who approached the councillors for help.

Fianna Fáil councillor Daragh Fitzpatrick said there should be ore communication with the ESB and UE.

“I have had no contact with the ESB and that is wrong; it needs to be addressed. He added that other councillors equally have no contact with the ESB.

Cllr Peggy O’Dwyer said among the incidents created by the storm was that residents of a nursing home had to be moved out because of a lack of electricity.

“People really need to get on board  because this is leaving people vulnerable and isolated,” she said.

“UE and the ESB need to be liaising, there has to be communication,” said Cllr Bill Clear while Cllr Noel Heavey called for the setting up of a point of contact between KCC and these groups.

Cllr Tracey O’Dwyer said it was clear that tree maintenance needs to be a priority in the future adn issues arose when trees fell on privately owned land.

Independent councillor Tom McDonnell said the crisis demonstrated that  there needs to be a rethink about removing solid fuel stoves from homes "because it will leave people vulnerable.”

Cllr Tim Durkan said all new homes should be required to have a link which would allow appliances and systems to be linked to a generator. He said there were many instances where people had to dump the contents of their fridge because of  the loss of electricity.

KCC official Celina Barrett pointed out that the ESB and UE are national bodies which coordinate at national level.She also pointed out that KCC is represented on the national body coordinating a response to extreme weather events. She said KCC asks landowners to maintain trees located near roads. She said KCC operates to a major emergency plan which provides responses in advance and which has “served us well.” She also said KCC coordinates at local and regional level with the gardaí and the HSE.

Another KCC official, Alan Dunney, pointed out that some problems arose from the fact that some electricity faults, which occurred, were not easily located. This meant that a fault was apparent but it could not be fixed because it had not been reported..

He pointed out that the ESB responded  by bringing in repair crews from other countries and taking back staff who had retired.