As Storm Éowyn ends and cleanup starts, the scale of the destruction across the country is becoming more apparent.
Newstalk reporter Henry McKean, who travelled around the country documenting the storm's impact, found himself stranded for a time in Athlone last night.
He told The Anton Savage Show of how he was saved by the barman of a local pub.
“I’m actually now in Athlone and those warnings, they’ve dropped off, but there’s still fallen trees, there’s loose wires,” he said.
“Taoiseach Micheál Martin has announced he will offer people and businesses support caught up in the storm, and because of these power cuts right across the West, I couldn’t get home.
“I’m in an EV (electric vehicle) you see, so the charges around Claremorris, around Galway Plaza, all around there were out.”
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Henry thanked the barman of an Athlone pub for helping him to stay on the road.
“I ended up in Athlone, which also has water issues, power issues – but I basically had to go to Dan’s Tavern and I met Paul Donovan,” he said.
“He’s a barman and he basically put the wire of my care to give me a little bit of a charge because I was literally down to zero.”
Henry was also given a hot meal at the pub, and thanked Mr Donovan for his kindness.
Ev chargers 🔌 were down across most of the West. I just want to thank barman Paul Donovan from Dan’s Tavern Athlone who put a wire through his window so I could get a charge. There are good kind people in this world 🌍. #StormÉowyn @AntonSavageShow @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/DT0gck0EXX
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) January 25, 2025
Connacht suffered the loss of a state-of-the-art Air Dome in the storm.
Henry said he had met with those that had got out of the area just in time.
@newstalkfm 'We got out in time anyway.' Connacht GAA's Air Dome, a state of the art facility near Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo, has been destroyed by Storm Éowyn. #ireland #irishtiktok #stormeowyn #irishtiktok #mayo #gaa ♬ original sound - Newstalk
“The Connacht Centre of Excellence, that blew down three million euros worth of a sports air dome,” he said.
“I met those GAA parish and some of them were in it at half two, the night of the storm.
“They got out just in time because the thing whips down – it just whipped down and I saw the CCTV footage of it, it was just so dangerous, these winds gusting up to 183 kilometres per hour.
“Also, the mobile phone networks were down too – Vodafone, they’re saying they’re coming back on track, they’re currently at 11.5% impact on their total network are off air still – and that includes areas like Galway, Clare, Mayo, Kerry, Donegal and Sligo and into the midlands.”
Henry said the force of the wind was “something else”.
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Main image: Newstalk reporter Henry Mc Kean (L) and aftermath of storm Éowyn (R).
