Parents in County Roscommon left without childcare for over two weeks due to lack of power

Upset parents of over 100 children were left without childcare facilities in the Frenchpark area as the local childcare centre was forced to close for over two weeks due to a power outage after Storm Eowyn.

The Frenchpark and Districts Childcare Centre, which caters for up to 120 children, had its power knocked out after the storm. A series of reconnection dates were given, but none were fulfilled and parents became upset and annoyed as the crèche remained closed.

June Murphy, Centre Business Manager, told the Roscommon Herald they had to deal with a barrage of emails and calls from frustrated parents as many of them had to take time off work and they were left in limbo as to when they could re-open.

She explained “The restoration dates kept changing, which was very disruptive. If we had known we would have gotten a generator. Families were pulling their hair out but the time kept getting pushed back. We were told it would be restored on February 4th, then the 8th and then the 9th. Parents were so frustrated.” She added they could not get the ESB to respond to their queries and were merely directed to the Network check website. She said many of the families who use the creche were also without power and staff remained on standby at all times in the hope of re-opening.

She added: “It wasn’t only the parents who were affected when they couldn’t get to work when the creche was unable to open. The children would have been impacted hugely also as we provide meals for them; this is very important to the families as a whole in such a disadvantaged area. They would have missed the social contact too which is so important for their development and, of course, the fun activities that they participate in here each day.

“It will take the children a while to settle back in after such a long break and I’m sure some of them must be traumatised from being stuck at home with no light, heat, entertainment and maybe even food.” It came to the point that, when they realised they could not depend on a reconnection date, the staff posted on Facebook appealing for help saying “Here at FDCL we’re still closed 13 days after Storm Eowyn left us without power—and it feels like the government has forgotten about us. Our creche serves a disadvantaged area and provides an essential service for children and families in our community. We urgently need support to get back on our feet and source a generator in case this happens again, or to help us during planned outages to repair other faults. Our team are doing all they can to get us back up and running but we need help. Please help amplify our voice and ensure our community’s needs are not overlooked. Together, we can make sure our families are prioritized and our children continue to receive the care they deserve.” After parents shared the post the Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice got involved and sourced a generator for them. This was installed on the Thursday (6th) but as the facility has underfloor heating, which needs at least 24 hours to heat up, they could not re-open until the following Monday, February 10th.

Ms Murphy acknowledged the ESB were focussed on areas with larger populations but understands the frustration of parents. “We are in a disadvantaged area and this had a huge impact. We have learned that we also need a generator. We had tried to source our own but none were available.” Cllr Fitzmaurice said this had been a hugely frustrating time for parents. He said: “I was alerted to the fact that they had no power and I was very conscious of the fact that there were many parents in a large area who were who could probably not go to work as they had at look after their children. I just came on board to source a generator and help them. I'm on the emergency committee through the council and I was delighted to help them.” He added he had heard about the situation at 8 p.m. on the Wednesday evening and by 9 a.m. the following day he had organised the generator and stayed in touch with the electrician throughout the day to ensure that the generator would be adequate to power the facility.

Ms Murphy added: “We are lucky that we now have the generator, sourced by Cllr Fitzmaurice, so we won’t be affected by storms in the future.”