Fiddling on Kildare Street while the West perished

IT’S been a long time since I’ve witnessed such frustration and anger at central Government and the seat of power in Dublin over what people in the West of Ireland endured in the two weeks after Storm Éowyn struck.  Day-in, day-out, since those two fateful days of January 23/24 last, one of the big news items to be covered was about speaking times and rights in Dáil Éireann. Both sides slugged it out . . . and all the while, people perished with the cold across Conamara, east of the Corrib and across large tranches of Connacht.

At times, it’s just a matter of keeping in touch with people and for the population of Connacht, the Midlands and the North-West, the feeling grew with each passing day without power, water [why didn’t Uisce Éireann have back-up generators on standby?] and telephone coverage, that if this was happening in Dublin, there would be a national state of emergency declared.

There was a massive disconnect between Leinster House and the rural population of the West since Éowyn struck with such vengeance and violence on the Thursday night of January 23 and the early hours of Friday morning, January 24, 2025.

For the following day, it was kind of hard to grasp the scale of the damage that had been caused by Éowyn, but a trip through rural West of Ireland to places like Dunmore, Glenamaddy, Moycullen, Carna, Renvyle and Maam, showed the devastation the storm had caused.

The response locally was nothing short of magnificent. Local communities and voluntary groups rallied together; councillors worked side-by-side with local authority staff to protect the most vulnerable; while ESB crews on the ground worked with skill and courage to try and restore power.

Make no mistake about it, Éowyn is now officially the worst ever storm this country has endured since records began. The highest gust of wind in the history of the State – 184km/h or 114mph – was recorded at Mace Head on the Conamara coast, while the highest 10-minute mean wind speed also occurred at the same location – 142km/h or 88mph. Places like Athenry, Finner in Donegal and Gurteen in Tipperary also experienced record breaking wind speeds.

Pictured:  Dáil rows about speaking rights as people in the West tried desperately to stay warm and cook a hot meal.