Mayo public 'left in the dark' with lack of information following Storm Eowyn

Mayo County Council along with ESB, Uisce Éireann and Eir were accused of 'keeping people in the dark' with the lack of information following Storm Eowyn and a 'failure' of communication.

Members of Mayo County Council expressed frustration with the local authority as well as ESB, Uisce Éireann and Eir at the lack of information they received in the days following Storm Eowyn and urged them to ensure the county is better prepared to deal with future storms.

Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn told the monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District that while the crews and outdoor workers should be praised for their work in the aftermath of the storm, the senior management of Mayo County Council and other companies had failed abysmally in their roles.

“People have been in the dark because of the lack of electricity but they have been completely in the dark because of the lack of communication. It has been a complete and abysmal failure from the senior management point of view in the likes of Mayo County Council, Irish Water and the ESB. It has not been good enough.

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“As councillors we were inundated with calls because we were the ones that people called or emailed or texted to seek information on when water will be restored or electricity and the networks restored and we did not have that information. You can point figures all you want but ultimately as a local authority we are supposed to be at the centre of all that is important in terms of infrastructure for the people and we are the ones they will call. We were completely and utterly left in the dark regarding information on critical services,” he said.

An emergency response hub was established by Mayo County Council on Monday but Cllr Flynn felt this was too little too late.

His colleague, Cllr Brendan Mulroy also criticised the lack of information councillors and the wider public received from the utility companies regarding power cuts and water shortages.

“The world and his mother knew that the water was going to go in Westport but the business people were not told that. It was all gone by nine [o'clock on Saturday] when the restaurants and pubs were full. It is intolerable the lack of communication.

“We worked hard to get information out but we had to look for the information to get it out. That was the problem, it wasn't coming to us,” he said.

Cathaoirleach of the municipal district, Cllr Seán Carey told the meeting that lessons have to be learned from Storm Eowyn and to be better prepared for future climatic events.

Rural Areas

Achill-based councillor Paul McNamara also felt that the utility companies have to take their share of responsibility for what he believes was a failure to invest in the infrastructure in rural areas.

“There seems to be less people out working on the ground and more people in offices and that does not work when something like this happens. When you haven't got the people on the ground to deal with devastation the work takes longer to do. If we go back 15 years and look at the rural areas where most had an ESB office and a telecom office but those days are gone now.

“They are manned from urban centres and that is having a knock on effect on the rural and coastal areas when it comes to restoration of power. It hasn't taken this storm alone to take out the ESB network...any bit of wind is knocking out the lights. A serious upgrade needs to be done on our network particularly in the rural areas,” he said.

Head of the Municipal District, Seamus Ó Mongáin defended Mayo County Council's response to the storm saying that the lack of phone coverage had made things difficult.

“It is important to point out that anything within our remit to be able to do something about we were very proactive and very responsible and reactive to everything that occurred. As a senior management team there was constant communication to get the main infrastructure opened for the people to use.

“Most of the mobile network went down and anytime try to contact someone it could take up to tein calls to get somebody. That made it extremely challenging for our crews and engineers and myself but we persevered," he said.