West Mayo councillors demand new policies for future storms

In the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, which left thousands of householders in Mayo without electricity, broadband and water, members of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District have bemoaned the lack of a coherent response to the hurricane-like weather event. 

The councillors outlined a series of difficulties people are suffering as a result of storm damage with Cllr John O’Malley calling for all trees along roads and within 20 metres of telecommunications and electricity lines to be completely removed.

“People have suffered because of this and they have suffered mostly because of trees that came down. We have to make sure everything is cleared of trees along the roads and along the service and power lines and nobody should be allowed to plant trees within 20 metres of such lines.

“I want to see all the trees removed along the roads. This is the fourth storm in the past year and we are going to have more of them. Take the trees away down to the root - the council and the landowners - take them out... we have to make a rule.

“I want the council to write to Westport Golf Club and have them remove trees there as they are dangerous; they not only came down on lines but also could have fallen on people’s cars and done huge damage.

“Also, write to the owners of Westport House and tell them there are trees on their land that need to be removed, not just trimmed, but taken out at the root.” 

Cllr O'Malley described the situation relating to telephone lines as "an absolute scandal”, adding: “Since the last storm, there are lines hanging down to the ground. I have three or four different situations where lines are lying nearly on the road and they won’t come and do anything about it.” 

He also said it was "a disaster" that planning regulations for new houses prohibited the inclusion of chimneys, saying: “They are asking people to build houses without chimneys and a fireplace, as a result of which a lot of people were caught very badly over this storm because they couldn’t even put down a fire. If a person has an open fireplace they can at least close the doors and have one room heated. A house without a chimney is the most ridiculous thing. There is plenty of turf and wood that people could have to keep themselves warm.” 

Cllr Peter Flynn said the biggest issue was the complete lack of communication from the likes of Mayo County Council, ESB, Uisce Éireann, Eir and other service providers. 

“It has been a complete and abysmal failure from a senior management point of view in the council. As councillors we have been inundated with calls to see if we could find out any information as to when power or water might be restored. 

"We can point fingers all we want but we as a local authority are in charge of local infrastructure and who people turn to in times of a problem, but we were left completely and utterly in the dark. We were just emailed to say offices were closed and no point of contact or who to talk to for information was given. When a helpline was finally set up it was too little too late and the contact given was for an office worker down in Belmullet. 

"It’s just ridiculous and is in itself a perfect storm. It is not acceptable and this is not going away. In terms of extremes of weather and climate change, this is what it is going to be like in Ireland and clearly what we have now is not working.” 

Cllr Flynn added there was no communication whatsoever from the council chief executive Kevin Kelly or the various Director of Services to inform councillors what was going on.

Cllr Gerry Coyle said the frequency of power outages in Erris and the loss of water supply was very concerning.

"We have lived in this country without electricity before but we have never lived without water. It is ridiculous that water is still not on in areas and then with the lines down, reception on phones also went down. 

"There are 12 houses in Doohoma left without electricity for the last year and a half around 11 or 12 times. Out at Glencastle, it is the same thing. There is something wrong here.” 

Cllr Chris Maxwell said it was not just elderly people but young couples with children who suffered as their new homes are totally reliant on electricity.

“There was no power in the lines and we could not do a thing about it. They could not keep themselves warm or even boil bottles for babies.” 

Cllr Brendan Mulroy said he was talking to a BBC News reporter who asked him what was the plan for Westport town after the storm and he was not able to tell him of any plan. He said any information they got as councillors had to be sourced for themselves.

“To see elderly people without heat in their houses is terrible. Mayo Fire Service was the only county service not on standby following the storm. The business community was not told water was going to go in Westport town at 9am, at a time when restaurants, pubs and hotels were full. 

"The lack of communication is intolerable. It is time to reinstate town councils, we need to do more for local people.” 

Councillors also called for planning regulations to be changed so that all new houses would be built with at least a fireplace and chimney for people to heat their homes in the event of a lack of services.

Head of the municipal district Seamus O'Mongáin said council staff had done everything they could in the aftermath of the storm.

“Anything within our remit, we were very proactive and reactive and everything was done to get the main infrastructure and main road arteries back open. Some elements are beyond our control in the local authority as they are in the charge of utility services, but we will relay your concerns.” 

In terms of the lack of communication from the council, he added: “Most of the mobile networks went down so that made it extremely challenging. Unfortunately, our networks are connected through [Microsoft] Teams and that network went down.”