Sharon Keogan urges generators for schools, regional storm plan
Sharon Keogan urged the government to shift from a reactive emergency response to proactive prevention, calling for generators in schools, grants for community alert groups and a move to regionalised emergency response. She argued that preparation and delegation are essential to prevent repeat disasters after widespread outages and damage.
Key recommendations
She called for specific changes including provision of a generator for every school, grants through the Pubble platform to allow community alert groups to stock emergency ESB kits for the elderly and those living alone, and a broader shift from centralised emergency control to regionalised response and prevention.
Scale of damage and local impact
She outlined the scale of recent damage cited in the House: close to a million buildings left without electricity, estimated losses of over 200 million to homes, roads and infrastructure, and over 500 million in damages to the timber and horticultural industries. She also noted that in her home constituency of Mead East some homes remained without telephone lines more than a month later.
Centralisation and international example
Keogan criticised the current model of national oversight with local execution as inefficient and potentially deadly, arguing that leaving too many decisions at the national level can cause fatal delays. She cited the tragic floods in Valencia, Spain, where delays and confusion between Madrid and the regional government aggravated the crisis as a warning example.
Calls for immediate practical measures and acknowledgement of forestry work
She urged the government to apply the principle of subsidiarity so regional response teams can act quickly and work closely with communities. She also commended the deputy minister for rapid work in the forestry sector since the 29th of January, noting the scale involved - 24,000 hectares of forestry - while pressing again for the twin priorities of preparation and delegation to prevent another storm Owen.
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Senator Joe Conway, across the country we have close to a million buildings left without electricity. There has been estimated damages of over 200 million to homes, roads and infrastructure as well as over 500 million in damages to the timber and horticultural industries. In my home constituency of Mead East, over a month later there are still homes that are lacking telephone lines. As has been said at length in this House, we have seen the result of our government's tendency to take a reactive emergency response approach instead of a proactive emergency prevention or minimisation. In the spirit of being proactive, I would like to call on the government to make a number of improvements for the future. One improvement I call on the government is to ensure that all schools in the country are provided with a generator. As the COVID pandemic taught us, it is a paramount to remain for the routine of children to be in place in the face of interruptions. Another area in which we can make immediate improvements is to assist the local emergency response groups. I call on you to cooperate with Minister Darragh Kileary to make grants available through the Pubble for community alert groups to stock up on emergency ESB kits for the elderly and those living alone. More broadly, we need to move away from our over-central emergency response system and move towards a system of regionalised emergency response and prevention. Our current system of local execution and national oversight is not efficient. Is it necessary for Dublin to begin delegating more responsibilities and competency to the regional level? Leaving too many elements of emergency response in the hands of the national level government can result in fatal delays. We saw this several months ago during the tragic floods in Valencia and Spain. Their delays and confusion between Madrid and the regional government of Valencia aggravated the crisis, making it one of the deadliest in Spanish history. I fear that too many incompetence is left in the hands of the national level bodies. Ireland is waiting to experience a Valencia level disaster of its own when the next storm comes. Too many local response groups who are ready to help can get stuck waiting on a delayed support or permission to come down the line from Dublin. Ireland desperately needs to apply the principle of subsidiarity in its emergency response, as it does in many areas. Regional responses and preparation groups will know far better what they need themselves and will be able to work much more closely to their communities. In short, how can the government prevent another storm Owen from happening? The two words are preparation and delegation. By the way, I also want to commend Minister Deputy Healey Ray on the fantastic work that he has actually done with the forestry sector since the 29th of January. I think people need to be aware of that. He is only in the job a month and he has done fantastic. We are dealing with 24,000 hectares of forestry. Thank you.
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