2026-01-29

What we have seen in north County Galway in the year since Storm Éowyn has been nothing short of disaster. There have been over 20 power outages in the past year in Dunmore in north County Galway. It is not just Dunmore but surrounding areas like Ballygar, Glenamaddy, Kilkerrin and Clonberne are all affected by regular outages. Outages are one thing but extended outages are another. I thank the ESB for its engagement on the issue. I had a meeting with ESB representatives on this specific matter earlier and it was a positive and constructive engagement. I got to the bottom of the reasons for a lot of these outages. There were swan strikes, issues with the line and issues with automation on the line, which led to power outages in larger areas, probably unnecessarily. This comes back to our readiness for weather events. Are we storm-ready along the north Galway lines? Investment is the other issue. Has this line been invested in in the past few years and, if so, what level of investment has gone into it? I received correspondence from the GP practice in Dunmore. For it to be without power for an extended period has a significant negative impact on patients. How can families, mothers with newborn children, the butcher shop and other shops - everywhere in the community - function as a society in the 21st century if they cannot have consistent power? The real issue is reliability and consistency. While the rest of the county drives on and has power, this area is often without power. Many constituents in north Galway have made contact with me. People can deal with a handful of power outages but when it is a recurring issue, it really frustrates people. I would be grateful for any insights the Minister can share as to how this situation will be resolved and what is causing it.

I am aware the Deputy met ESB Networks representatives today. I am glad he found that meeting informative and constructive. I will work with him on this specific issue. He articulated very well the impact it has on the communities he mentioned in Dunmore, Glenamaddy and elsewhere in Gaillimh. I will outline a couple of initiatives for the electricity grid and then get to the specifics in my second response. It is important that we look at this at a national level, although there are local area issues too. The Deputy knows the delivery of infrastructure on the ground is down to our network teams. We support that and the capital investment programmes being rolled out by EirGrid and ESB Networks. We have a role in assisting to fund that and in ensuring the right environment exists to enable the delivery of critical infrastructure. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, the independent regulator, is accountable to the Oireachtas committee. It is responsible for the economic regulation of the electricity system and its system operators. The operators are tasked with building safely, operating and maintaining a fit-for-purpose electricity system. Our grid is made up of two interlinked networks, namely, the transmission network operated by EirGrid, which allows us to transport electricity around the country, and the distribution network operated by ESB Networks, which brings power to communities, businesses and homes. In December, the CRU published its final determination of what is called price review 6. That is the capital investment programme for our grid in this five-year period. It is badly needed. It follows on from price review 5 which concluded at the end of last year. It is up to €18.9 billion of investment in our grid and 520 capital projects across the country to do the very thing the Deputy sought on behalf of his constituents, namely, improve grid resilience, upgrade lines, replace poles and ensure electricity corridors are fit for purpose so we can bring more power onto our grid, distribute it, bring more renewables onto the grid and ensure there is a safe and secure supply line of electricity. To facilitate that, and with the Deputy's support, we are investing €3.5 billion in equity in EirGrid and in ESB Networks. This is the first time this has been done. We passed the legislation before Christmas for the first €1.5 billion. It has now gone to ESB Networks and €2 billion will go to EirGrid. That allows them to borrow and leverage from that equity investment to invest in our grid. Those plans are for the next five years. It is about three and a half times the level of investment in the previous five years. If we needed to be taught anything, Storm Éowyn, even if it was an exceptional weather event, although, let us be honest, exceptional weather events are becoming much more frequent, showed that it is incumbent on us to improve the resilience of the distribution network in our grid. We have already embarked on that programme. I am directly involved with EirGrid and ESB Networks in relation to specific projects. I will come back on what we can do in Galway, the reasons for that and what we can do for the Deputy's constituents.

At my meeting with ESB Networks today, it became very clear that the company has both immediate and medium-term plans. It is important to highlight that vegetation and trees are one of the biggest causes of recurring outages in north Galway, where is a significant amount of forestry. When people planted those trees 30 years ago, there was no legislation suggesting they had to be 30 m distant from either side of the wire. We have to be honest about that. One issue the ESB faces, which it raised with me and was quite surprised about, is that a lot of forestry is owned by pension funds and investments funds, which are, ultimately, faceless organisations. It can be difficult for the ESB to make contact with them to gain access to the lands to maintain the tree line. I know legislation is being worked on but the ESB needs to have the power to go in and maintain the lines. It is the State's infrastructure and the ESB's infrastructure. The ESB has to have the right go in and maintain it. That is vital. In terms of immediate plans to protect areas like Dunmore, Glenamaddy and Mountbellew, I have heard stories of people who were two, three or four days without power. Every time that happens to a low-income family, they cannot afford to put food on the table because they are a few days without power. They have to go out for three of four meals a day and they have three kids. That is a really tough situation. When we get this right and when price review 6 investment comes through into areas like this, the people we will be helping are elderly people and people on lower incomes by giving them energy security. I welcome the grant announcements earlier this week and the work the Minister is doing because it is important in terms of giving people control of their own energy in their homes.

As I said, the meeting was important and gives the Deputy a clear view of what is happening. Work is under way in Tuam. Recent outages in the wider Tuam area and surrounding areas have primarily been caused by lightning events, timber vegetation, as the Deputy mentioned, wildlife and equipment failure on the network. There is a major programme of pole replacement. We have work to do on forestry corridors and timber cutting. Storm Éowyn brought down years of timber that would have been harvested. We are bringing forward legislation to clarify the rights the ESB already has because they go back to the 1929 electricity Act in terms of access to land. That will be done this year. My Department is working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is incumbent on those who own forests, be they privately owned, State forests or owned by institutions, that they are managed properly. That is why the licensing arrangements for new forestry need to reflect that. It cannot always be down to the State to manage forestry on private land. We have to put the responsibility on landowners. The Deputy mentioned the upgrading of the existing Ballygar 38 kV substation. That will have a very positive effect on the area. In my constituency, in north county Dublin, in particular in Donabate, there have been regular outages which has been rectified by the installation of a new substation. Many more of these will be delivered in the coming period. The winter resilience plan is under way. After Storm Éowyn, it was the first time that the grid had been fully surveyed nationwide across the 26 Counties and, indeed, across the 32 Counties because we operate a single electricity market. That was done mainly through drones, which I will discuss shortly. I assure the Deputy that I will work directly with him on the specific issues in his constituency. He has articulated very well the impact they have had on residents. Things are now starting to improve. A major investment programme over the next five-year term will make a difference.