Leitrim trees being 'planted in the exact same place and will cause same issues' during storms

A Leitrim councillor has said that he is disappointed that trees in Leitrim are being planted in the same place again despite causing significant issues during storms and leading to power outages lasting for weeks. 

Cllr Brendan Barry made the comments at a meeting in Ballinamore this week stating that he was frustrated that "things haven't changed; the main cause of the outages were forestry trees that were knocked down in the storm. I'm very disappointed and annoyed that those corridors have not increased in size since the last storm and trees are being replanted again in the exact same place; they will cause the same problems. That's the root cause of the problem and I would have hoped that the government, forest service and ESB would have moved to try and rectify that to make it more resilient going forward."

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David Minton, director of services, said that Leitrim County Council has a severe weather assessment team that are set to meet next week, in preparation for the winter period. "We look at everything from infrastructure provision and pumps to generators and communication system. The work we are doing with the ESB, Coillte and others is trying to mitigate the potential issues from a storm response so, from our perspective, I feel we are prepared as much as possible, with the resources that we have, for any severe weather event. We are dependent on the likes of Uisce Eireann, ESB etc. to help us with that but we are finding them to be responsive agencies."

Cllr Roisin Kenny supported the comments made by Cllr Barry stating that "it is very disheartening to see that no lessons have been learned and they are still planting the trees in the same place and it's just going to be the same thing in a couple of years time when those fall on power lines again. You'd like to think at government level that lessons were learned and the set back area would have been increased."