Coyle demands Eirgrid and ESB appear before council over Erris power outages

ERRIS-based county councillor Gerry Coyle has demanded that the ESB and Eirgrid appear before Mayo County Council to explain the ‘absolute scandal’ of ongoing power outages in the area.

Up to 10,000 homes, in North Mayo and West Sligo, were left without power following a major breakdown at the 110KV substation in Cunghill, Sligo, over the weekend.

Power was fully restored by ESB workers by Sunday evening following the latest in a serious of power outages in the Erris area.

Speaking at yesterday’s (Monday) meeting of Mayo County Council, Cllr Coyle said he knew of people who could not operate equipment for a disabled person because of the power outage, which began at midnight on Saturday night.

The Fine Gael councillor said he did not lay the blame with ESB workers, who worked throughout the weekend to restore the power.

“How a place can go into darkness for something down near Sligo baffles me,” the Geesala-based councillor remarked.

His fellow Erris-based councillor Sean Carey expressed similar concerns, telling the meeting that he received calls from sick people during the power outage.

In a statement issued to The Mayo News, an ESB spokesman apologised for the power outage.

“This was as a result of the fault impacting on six associated medium voltage stations in North Mayo, including Moy, Erris and Bellacorrick,” they stated.

“ESB Networks crews mobilised quickly, working through the night to carry out the significant repair works at the station. Impacted customers had their power restored in tranches through Sunday, with supply restored to the vast majority of customers by 8pm.

“ESB Networks apologises to all customers impacted by this outage, and the obvious disruption caused to family and commercial life through the day on Sunday.”

Work is currently ongoing to develop the North Connacht 110 kV Project, which aims to strengthen the electricity grid in the north-west of Connacht.