A woman in Roscommon has demanded the Government buy everyone in the west of Ireland a wind turbine, two solar panels and a battery to cope with future storms.
There are currently around 142,000 homes still without power and Taoiseach Micheál Martin spent the day touring the worst impacted areas.
At an emergency community hub, Mr Martin was confronted by Rachel Connolly, a resident of Castlerea in County Roscommon.
A frustrated Ms Connolly told him the grid system is “failing” and that the State should pay for rural homes to set up their own renewable power supply.
Visited Castlerea, Ballaghaderreen & Kiltoom today to meet the communities impacted by Storm Eowyn & those providing much needed support.
Witnessed tremendous community spirit. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/p2HpOOAVKP
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) January 28, 2025
“What we all need in the West of Ireland is this, it’s very simple and it’s very cost effective,” she said.
“You need to provide us with a grant so that we can all purchase a residential wind turbine and two solar panels and a battery.
“We can come off the grid; we don’t want to be dependent, we don’t want the ESB and people, who by the way, I would love you to recognise nationally for their courage.
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“Because here in the west we see the difficult and long hours they work… We need to get off your system.
On The Hard Shoulder, Housing Minister James Browne acknowledged that people are “frustrated” at the moment.
“I think the Taoiseach was out meeting as many people as possible and listening to people and their frustrations that they have,” he said.
“What it was really about was listening to people, listening to any suggestions they may have and looking at how when these events happen again, that we’ve taken the learnings from this unprecedented event and use them for more preparedness when there are future events.”
Minister Browne added that climate change means that extreme weather events like Storm Éowyn will “undoubtedly” happen again.
Main image: Micheál Martin. Picture by: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
