Nearly €300,000 severe weather payment for Leitrim County Council

Leitrim County Council has been allocated €299,273.52 to cover a substantial portion of the unplanned costs it incurred during last year's severe winter weather, according to figures released this week.

The funding confirmation came in a written parliamentary reply from James Browne, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, who outlined the nationwide recoupment of €18.6 million to local authorities for their emergency response to Storm Éowyn, Storm Amy, Storm Bert and the January 2025 snow event.

Speaking about the payment, Cllr Gary Prior said: "We all know what a great job Leitrim County Council did after Storm Éowyn and the staff on the ground and the fire crew."

He noted there there were 10,000 homes without power immediately after the storm in Leitrim after the storm and "3,500 without power, 11 days later."

 Leitrim was among the counties most affected by Storm Éowyn, which brought flooding, road damage and extensive utility outages. The Minister said the funding recognises the scale of the work carried out by councils during severe weather events and the importance of enabling a rapid response.

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The payments cover emergency work such as clean-up operations, overtime, machinery hire and other immediate costs.

The Minister noted that while the payments cover emergency response costs, repairs to public infrastructure such as roads and coastal protection works are funded separately through the relevant Government departments.