Taoiseach confronted with anger and frustration on visit to Castlerea

Anger and frustration were evident in West Roscommon earlier today, Tuesday, as Taoiseach Micheal Martin met with people still waiting to have power, water and communication systems restored in the wake of Storm Éowyn.

Rachel Connolly from Cloonkeen, Castlerea condemned the government response to the crisis. She said that this was the fourth time in 12 months that they had lost power and the third time that she had to throw out a freezer full of food.

She told the Taoiseach that he needed to get the Dail back and to sit at the Western Development Commission offices in Ballaghaderreen so politicians could see for themselves the hardships being suffered by people.

She said the emergency response was not good enough, but she did not blame that on the utility companies, but on the government for not acting quickly enough and not being prepared enough.

She urged the Taoiseach to make grants available to people so they could invest in solar alternatives and come off the grid altogether.

The Taoiseach and Deputy Martin Daly told Ms Connolly that plans had been made in advance of the storm and supports were available. However, she did not accept this and declined to be fobbed off with “stock answers and one-liners”.

Meanwhile, Julie Malone, a mother of three young children from Trien told the Taoiseach how difficult it had been over the past few days without power, water of phone services.

With the local national school closed until further notice because of the outages and no sign of a reprieve, Julie spoke of the need to draft in extra help without delay.

ESB Networks has given a date of February 3rd for restoration of power, but Julie says “it’s simply not acceptable”.

She paid tribute to all the ESB personnel, Uisce Eireann workers and council workers who are working around the clock to try and restore services as quickly as possible, but she told the Taoiseach that they needed more help and needed it urgently.

“I don’t want it to sound like I have a sense of entitlement, “ she said, “but we put in the preparations, heeded the weather warnings and were as prepared as we could be. Now we are told it will be days before we have any power back. I have thrown out a freezer full of food. We have no heat, no water and we are trying to cook on a camping stove. This is an emergency, not just for me and my family but hundreds of other families like ours and hundreds of elderly people who are in an awful situation.” 

While at the d’Gaff in Castlerea where members of Castlerea Town Team and other volunteers are providing charging services and water, the Taoiseach also spoke with students from the nearby Castlerea Community School who told him of their concerns about getting applications in on time for university places. With the CAO deadline looming they were very concerned that the lack of WiFi sevices and told him of the stress this was putting on them.

The Taoiseach also visited the town’s Demesne where Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice, pointed out the devastation caused. With hundreds of fallen trees the park is now closed to the public. At the park the chairman of Castlerea Towns Trust spoke of how they were heartbroken to witness the devastation caused by the storm, but vowed to do everything possible to get the park back open again. The Taoiseach pledged support for the clean-up effort.

The Taoiseach then went on to visit Ballaghaderreen fire station where he met with local fire men and council staff and paid tribute to the trojan work they have been doing. He also met with people availing of emergency water at the station which is being provided by Uisce Eireann. Deputy Martin said he had decided to come to Roscommon personally following representations by Deputy Daly and to see firsthand the challenges being experienced.

Speaking on the decision by the Taoiseach to pay a special visit to Roscommon Shane Tiernan CE Roscommon County Council stated “We are delighted to welcome the Taoiseach to see the efforts that been made and how people have been impacted in the first instance. Obviously he wanted to see where the damage has been done, meet people on the ground that have been affected and give them the reassurances that the State is doing everything possible to get people's lives back to normal. We're delighted that he picked Roscommon and showing him both the impact on people affected and what we are doing as a local authority with others to make this work and get everybody back to normal.” 

Local councillor and fire officer Michael Frain said that despite the tough couple of days they have experienced “everyone came together and that is a testament to the people of the area. This has brought out the best in people who have been helping each other out. There has been trojan work done,” and he applauded the “trojan work” done by his fellow firemen.

The Taoiseach then went onto the Family Resource Centre in the town which is acting as a hub for people to use while they remain without electricity and water. He also saw where the new crèche is being built close to the centre while meeting with staff and service providers.