Health Minister acknowledges ‘extraordinary’ frustration of Mayo homes still without power

A senior government minister has said that the country’s electricity grid must be rebuilt as homes in Mayo remain without electricity, internet and water 12 days after Storm Éoywn.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill and Minister for State Alan Dillon both faced questions regarding the government’s response to the record-breaking storm as many homes throughout Mayo remain without essential services like power and water.

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Speaking during a visit to the Mayo University Hospital, Minister Carroll-MacNeill said that her party were examining how to take learnings from the storm’s fallout in future.

“This is a major event, and we all have to prepare for what I fear will be the next one,” the Fine Gael minister stated.

“The frustration of being without power for 12 days is extraordinary, and it’s even more acute in remote areas where you don’t have a neighbour to call into.”

The minister added: “Simply put, this is an issue of rebuilding the connections, rebuilding the grid.  That is a line-by-line endeavour.”

“Wires are going to have to go underground, we’re going to have to have private wires in anticipation of these types of events in the future.”