Leitrim Left in the Dark: Communities endure 40 or 50 power outages over past five years

Irish Independent

14-05-2025

Communities across Co Leitrim are being impacted by regular and reoccurring power outages with some households experiencing an accumulative month without power over a five year period. It has been claimed that homes and businesses in various areas are being serviced by an unreliable power supply resulting in 40 or 50 power outages over the past five years. During Storm Darragh some homes were without power for up to a week, while Storm Éowyn caused a two week outage in some parts of the county. However, the power outages are not limited to the affects of a storm. Cllr Maeve Reynolds said the issues impacting power supply in Leitrim have been ongoing long before the storms. 'In the Drumsna and Kilnagross areas, people are experiencing regular and sustained electricity outages, year after year, storm or no storm. 'These are not occasional disruptions, these are reoccurring outages. 'Some people have been without electricity for accumulative of a month over the past five years. 'It might have been two weeks with Storm Éowyn and seven days with storm Darragh, but there could be out on 40 or 50 power outages over the past five years,' said Cllr Reynolds. It is believed the lines most affected by the power outages run through heavily forested areas and there is a need to cut back forest vegetation growing near powerlines. Cllr Reynolds said the 'unpredictability' and 'a lack of continuity' of the power supply can cause great stress for people living in the area and those operating businesses. 'If your line goes through a mature forest, generally a Sitka Spruce forest, there is a whole host of reasons but if a forest is not being maintained or the trees are planted close to the power line, due to the shallow root system, there doesn't need to be a storm or heavy winds that knocks over a tree. 'If it is just one outage, it will be fixed sooner and the power might only be out for a couple of hours, but when there is a storm and everyone else is out too, they could be left out for days or weeks. 'It happens without warning and it is not just households, it is businesses too. If businesses are impacted they have to shut their doors and send staff home, while remote workers are unable to do their jobs,' said Cllr Reynolds. Cllr Reynolds has raised the issue at various junctures and three delegations from Leitrim met with Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Healy-Rae to raise the ongoing issues. However, no assurances were given for a resolution into the issue. In her latest motion to Leitrim County Council, Cllr Reynolds called for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to attend a meeting of Leitrim County Council. 'One of their biggest responsibilities is the protection of consumers and ensuring that electricity supplies remain safe and reliable. 'A reliable power supply is something that customers in Leitrim have not enjoyed for past number of years. 'The reality is that we are all so dependent on electricity and it has been government policy to encourage us to be more dependent on electricity especially for people who have air to water heating or those who rely on power for water supply, medical equipment or the basics of day to day life,' said Cllr Reynolds. Cllr Reynolds has questioned what is going to be done to address the repeated failures and what infrastructure improvements are planned for the county. She also believes it is important the trees within close distance of power lines are removed further back to prevent further outages due to fallen trees. Cllr Reynolds said some households who applied for the humanitarian assistance scheme still haven't been paid, nearly four months after Storm Éowyn. She said there needs to be scheme in place that streamlines compensating households. 'If we look at our neighbours like Scottish Power, they have a system in place that if there is a long outage of over 48 hours, there is a fixed fee of compensation for what you are paid. 'That would have made it a lot easier for households. 'If we knew there was a compensation process in place in advance, then at least people would understand they could go out and have a meal because they are going to be getting the money back. 'People just weren't eating because they did not know if they were going to be compensated for eating out for two weeks. 'If we could know that there is support and compensation in place for when inevitably this happens again, it would make the lives of people who are dealing with the aftermath of the storm a lot easier,' said Cllr Reynolds.