Council chief defends response to Storm Éowyn

The chief executive of Mayo County Council has rejected the suggestion of a breakdown in communication with the public in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.

Separate motions from three councillors - Peter Flynn, Damien Ryan and Richard Finn - were submitted at last week's meeting seeking accountability from council management over its handling of the devastating storm. Cllr Flynn sought a "forensic written report detailing the council’s preparedness for and response to the storm while Cllr Ryan called for the setting up of a special coordination group for similar weather events with "public representatives at its centre". 

Cllr Finn wanted the council to “write to the Government and the Minister for Local Government Housing and Heritage James Browne to request funding for the extra expenses and clean up”.

“Mayo County Council at a very senior level went missing Friday, Saturday and Sunday when we were in the middle of a national crisis," claimed Cllr Flynn. "Local authorities are designated as the lead agency for severe weather events, that is in the regulations from government, but someone in the council decided that we as public representatives had no hand, act or part to be working with the essential service providers, Uisce Eireann, the ESB etc, and that we should instead have to call the public numbers out of hours if we wanted information. So we were completely cut off as public representatives.

“The communication process has been extremely flawed. As local representatives, we were the ones getting the calls and we had absolutely nothing to fall back on, bar the local workers we spoke to on the ground. Without that, we would have been completely at sea. It shows the shortfall in communication."

Cllr Flynn said business owners in Westport had their water supply cut off from 6pm on Saturday, January 25th, and "no communication went out at all in advance", creating "absolute chaos".

“James Street was without electricity for the entire week and again there was no communication around this and we as councillors ourselves were in the dark. There should have been some form of central communication.

“There was a complete breakdown in communication and I don’t believe Mayo Co Council as the local authority stepped up. Even on the Monday and Tuesday, all councils reported back to government but not Mayo Co Council. 

"Kilkenny and also Tipperary local authorities showed a great example of crisis management teams, which they had in place in advance. But none of that happened in Mayo. The council only started reacting three days after the disaster happened when it was too late. In future, we need teams and some mechanism in place for councillors to communicate with.” 

Rejecting the charges, chief executive Kevin Kelly said it was "very unfair" to suggest that council staff were "missing over the days after the storm event".

“You mention the minister and local deputies and I was constantly in contact with them and they were constantly ringing me. I don’t know who issued the Government report you referred to but it did not include the information we had submitted.

“The storm occurred at night and we are thankful given how serious it was, that we did not lose any life during the course of it, and I do want to thank the fire groups who responded to the tree incidents during the red warning and the other emergency services; and also the municipal district heads of staff and all Directors of Services who were absolutely constantly engaged in it."

Mr Kelly said there were "serious telecommunications issues" after the storm which limited the dissemination of information to councillors.

"A phone call might take seven attempts and we all had to do various things to be and remain connected. On the Friday afternoon, I spent about five hours in my car to ensure I remained connected.

“We are the lead for the principal response agencies, the HSE including the ambulance service and the Gardai; and we were in constant contact with those agencies.

“I also want to thank the community team, the library service that opened on Mondays to provide services to the public, the Irish Water staff - and I have to say I find it ironic this function was taken from us and we are still expected to be the same voice of that same agency; maybe it should have been left with us.

“We all know the issues arising from this storm were power, water and telecommunications, none of which are our responsibility. Of course, we would provide information if we had it in the first instance.

“Between the scale of the issue and difficulty of communication and agencies getting to grips with what was happening and the magnitude of it, it was very difficult.

“What is clear is Mayo Co Council cleared the roads quickly, moving from the more strategic routes down to the local roads to ensure access or egress for everybody, and then moving on to work with agencies regarding water etc. Maybe we were concentrating too much on the delivery piece than the communication, but that is what was happening.

“Of course, there are lessons to be learned from something of that scale but there needs to be a review nationally as well as regionally and locally.

“I think Mayo County Council undertook the work which is entrusted to it very effectively and I want to acknowledge staff and say I am very proud of them."

Director of Services Tom Gilligan said the clean-up from the storm was continuing and the council would be seeking to recoup the costs from the Department of Local Government.