'The effects on people are ferocious' - Mayo TD calls for emergency plan

Sinn Fein TD Rose-Conway Walsh from Belmullet is calling for an immediate review, after the news broke yesterday, that a Mayo man passed away after his medical equipment failed due to Storm Éowyn has a family and community in shock. 

Thousands of households and business are sill dealing with the effects of Storm Éowyn. And while many communities, especially in West, in Mayo, are still living without power, water or phone coverage, the matter has reached political Dublin.

Yesterday the news transpired, that a man died after his medical equipment was not ready for use as the man was out of electricity for days because of Storm Éowyn.

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Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh who brought this case forward, says speaking to The Mayo News: "This case displays for us the absolute severity of households in Mayo being without electricity for days on end and not knowing when that electricity will come back on.

And also in terms of the number of very vulnerable people we have, particularly Mayo, which is an area with a high population of elderly people: Many of them are wholly dependent on electricity for medical equipment."

The TD from Belmullet said her offices have been snowed under with calls from constituents across Mayo who are in desperate, desperate need of electricity.

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Conway-Walsh calls for funding to be made available for generators or households where people are depending on electricity for medical devices. 

Sinn Féin demand crisis plan

"People have really suffered here. People have had injuries and and more. And worse, like the case just now. The cumulative effect of not having heat and not having water and not having light for days is just ferocious."

Conway-Walsh stresses that the ESB, the HSE, eir and other statutory agencies were not prepared for an event like this.

"I do want to commend the workers on the ground. There obviously isn't enough of them. And I want to thank them and to thank their families as well. Because this has been really tough on them. This is is dangerous work."

Sinn Féin would have a plan in place that would ensure that it doesn't happen in the first place in terms of investment in infrastructure, but also that vulnerable people within the county are protected. And the army should have been called in immediately and the Dáil should have been recalled. 

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Conway-Walsh pointed out that many good ideas had come forward in the course of the last two weeks, very practical ones, that would have to be incorporated into a plan.

"There must be an immediate review into what has happened here and also how the rest of the country is treated differently. Why is there such a disparity between having an event like this in the West, as opposed to having it in another part of the country?"

Investment needed for the West

Conway-Walsh explains, that the ESB don't have their own tree surgeons. They have to contract in, which means they have to wait for those contractors to come.

"Why don't we have people with those skills within the ESB? Why aren't there more workers? They're a very profitable company. But it's not just the ESB as well in terms of telecommunication company eir."

The Mayo TD mentions that there are people without phone coverage for months now. 

"There's just such a multiplicity of weaknesses that this shows up in terms of government responsibility for the statutory agents, agencies as well. And for the lack of investment, there is investment needed for the West. It's a lot that needs to be done."

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