Outrage as government agencies skip meeting on Leitrim power outages

On Thursday night, as Storm Eówyn was building up outside, the atmosphere in the Den community centre was one of tired, resigned frustration as over 100 people gathered at a public meeting about Leitrim’s consistent power outages - knowing that in just a few hours they would be back in that situation again.

Following the massive disruptions Storm Darragh caused, the meeting was called to address the severity and frequency of the power and water outages in the county.

Service providers, forestry companies, local councillors and local residents were invited to Ballinamore to participate in discussing the issues and finding solutions. 

The ESB, Coillte, the office of the forestry inspector, and Uisce Eireann all received invitations from Leitrim’s Public Participation Network (PPN), who organised the event, though none of the agencies appeared. 

“We are in a position where no one who is responsible for this or who has the power to change this has turned up tonight Not Coillte, not forestry owners or regulators,” said Keith Brennan, a Roscommon farmer, to a round of applause.

“We are in a position where people who profit from this have no interest or stake in changing things,” added Mr Brennan, who was out of power for eight days after Storm Darragh.

Storm Darragh left thousands of households in Ireland without power and water as a result of trees and branches falling on powerlines though the impact was significantly worse in Leitrim with it being one of the last counties to have power restored.

The consistent power outages have been a significant problem in the county for many years with many attendants of the meeting describing them as regularly occurring in their areas.

A majority of the outages are a result of the rampant aforestation in the county which has seen nearly 33% of viable land in Leitrim covered in forest, according to Brian Smyth of Save Leitrim, an environmental group that campaigns for better forestry management standards. 

“Everyone is paying too much in Leitrim for this problem,” said Smyth, “What must change, most importantly is that ESB, Coilte and the forest service must say we are at fault, we are part of the problem, we are going to be part of the solution … They didn’t come here tonight, which is a shame, even just to sit in the back and listen and it is a disgrace that they didn’t to be honest.”   

ESB, Coilte, and the forestry inspector said that they were not in a position to attend the meeting, while Forest Industries Ireland, Te Irish Forest Owners Association, or Uisce Eireann, did not provide any response to the invitations, according to organisers.

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