Leitrim Left in the Dark: Communities endure 40 or 50 power outages over past five years
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
7 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ireland makes waves on a global scale as seven-storey swell recorded off coast of Cork
Data released by the Marine Institute shows the 21.9-metre wave was captured by the M3 weather buoy, 56km south-west of Mizen Head at 10am on January 27, making it one of the largest waves ever logged in Irish waters. 'That wave was recorded during Storm Éowyn as it passed over Ireland. The M3 buoy is located approximately 55km offshore west-southwest of Mizen Head, Co Cork, the southernmost point of Ireland,' said Alan Berry, research infrastructure manager at the Marine Institute. But the towering swell off the Cork coast pales beside two freak waves that breached the 30-metre mark over the past decade. A record-breaking rogue wave measuring 32.3m was recorded five years ago, nearly 400km off the Galway coast by the M6 buoy stationed in the deep Atlantic, according to the Marine Institute. It remains the largest confirmed wave ever measured in Irish waters, although an unverified larger swell was logged 11 years ago. 'Analysis of raw data from a wave rider buoy operated by ESB at Killard, Co Clare, suggested that a 33.96m wave was recorded on January 26, 2014,' Mr Berry said. 'The accuracy of that observation has never been verified and should be treated with caution due to the depth of water [39m] and the stated operating range of the wave monitoring buoy. 'A number of verified rogue waves were recorded by the buoy in the following two days, including the 'Killard Wave' measuring 26.45m and a number of other waves in excess of 20m. 'But, to the best of our knowledge, the 32.3m wave recorded at the M6 buoy in 2020 is the largest recorded wave ever in Irish waters.' Ireland's exposed position on the storm-tossed track of North Atlantic low-pressure systems gives rise to some of the most colossal seas on the planet Closer to land, a 30.96m wave was measured by a weather buoy 10 miles off the coast of Belmullet in the westerly tip of Mayo just after midnight on March 2, 2016. The same buoy recorded a 26.35m rogue wave the following night at 3am. Mr Berry said the Belmullet coast experiences some of Ireland's tallest waves because it lies close to the edge of the continental shelf, where the relatively shallow coastal waters — around 250 metres deep — drop sharply into the deep ocean, which plunges to about 3,000 metres. Ireland's exposed position on the storm-tossed track of North Atlantic low-pressure systems gives rise to some of the most colossal seas on the planet. Rogue waves — steep, solitary swells that rise at least twice as high as the surrounding sea — were once thought to be maritime myth, but are now well-documented. According to researchers, between one in every 10,000 and one in every 30,000 waves fall into this rare category. The data from the Marine Institute also showed these waves aren't confined to the open Atlantic, with giant waves occurring in sheltered waters, including off the Connemara coast this winter. 'The largest wave ever recorded in Galway Bay occurred during Storm Éowyn, measuring 10.1m in a depth of water of 25m just off the coast of Spiddal village,' Mr Berry said. The Marine Institute's real-time monitoring network provides insight into how often — and how close to shore — these extreme waves can appear. Ireland's Atlantic-facing coastline places it at the front line of North Atlantic swell systems, making it one of Europe's most wave-battered regions.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Over 3,000 applications made from County Sligo to humanitarian fund in the wake of Storm Éowyn
Sligo Champion There were 3,510 claims under a humanitarian assistance scheme from County Sligo as a result of Storm Éowyn which struck the country last January. In new figures provided by the Department of Social Protection to TG4, there was 93,007 applications registered in respect of 75,733 people totalling almost €12.8 million for the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme that was opened in the aftermath of the storm. County Galway had the highest amount of applications with 30,592, County Mayo had the second highest with 17,303, and County Roscommon had the third highest with 8,702 applications. Sligo has 3,510 applications and Leitrim 4,387.
Agriland
3 days ago
- Agriland
‘Farming sector forefront to impact of climate change'
The impact of climate change needs to 'appear higher' on the policy agenda, according to Maynooth University's Prof. Conor Murphy. The professor was speaking at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's (DAFM) Agriculture and Climate Change conference in Dublin Castle this morning (June 5). According to Prof. Murphy, Ireland's agriculture sector is 'vulnerable' and needs to adapt to climate change. He said: 'The farming sector is at the forefront of the impact of climate change. No other livelihood is more influenced by the weather conditions on a day-to-day, season-to-season, and year-to-year basis. 'Many people talk about Ireland experiencing a reduced impact of climate change. Our observation shows that many parts of the country are experiencing a rate of warming higher than the global minimum,' he explained. Climate change Prof. Murphy believes that in the coming years, droughts will become more intense, and more extreme. The professor claims that the future impacts of climate change will depend on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Murphy said: 'If we look back a couple of years to 2018, and the drought impacts that we saw, droughts have occurred right throughout history, but we expect them to become more intense, more extreme, with changes in rainfall at the increased temperature. 'At the time, many people were saying, 'we've always had drought'. Yes, we did in the 1970s, but take a step back, in the 2018 context it's happening in a much warmer world.' 'The future impacts of climate change will be more severe. We're seeing the impacts emerge,' Murphy explained. The professor also noted, that if GHG emissions were stopped today, the impacts of climate change would still be experienced 'for decades to come'. 'The earlier we reduce emissions the less severe future impacts will be,' Prof. Murphy said. 'One way for individuals to think about future climate change, is to think about memorable extremes. What did it mean for your farm? What did it mean for your sector?' he added.
