AROUND 20,000 PEOPLE are still without power after Storm Darragh caused widespread outages.

A crew from France was welcomed at Rosslare Europort today, after they were called in to help the ESB make restorations faster.

There has been longstanding cooperation between electricity network operators in Ireland, the UK and France, providing support to each other in challenging times.

ESB Networks previously travelled to France to help them in the aftermath of Storm Ciarán. Now in the aftermath of a weekend Status Red weather warnings, France is returning the favour.

So far, ESB Networks and its partner contractors have restored power to 375,000 people impacted by Storm Darragh.

The 60 skilled personnel from Enedis – the ESB’s French counterpart – have been deployed to the North West, Midlands and South East this evening, where cutsomers were hit hardest.

Nicholas Tarrant, Managing Director of ESB Networks, said Storm Darragh has been the most damaging storm for the country since Storm Ophelia in 2017.

“We have a proud track record of supporting neighbouring countries if requested by electricity network operators following major storm damage.

“Due to the severity and significant scale of the damage following Storm Darragh, some customers could be without power for approximately a week so we hope that this will help us to restore power as soon as possible in those worst affected areas.”

Enedis brought their own vehicles with them on the ferry

The weather warnings may have elapsed, but Storm Darragh continues to have far-reaching consequences.

Uisce Éireann is working to reconnect all customers to water supply. However, it warned that there a number of locations that will take longer to restore supply to as they’re areas where ongoing power outages have impacted treatment plants and network pumping stations. 

Ferry services from Dublin and Holyhead were cancelled today due to infrastructure damage at the Welsh port over the weekend

Tomorrow’s early sailings have also been cancelled.

Irish Road Haulage Association president Ger Hyland told RTÉ radio today that some of his members have trucks waiting for trailers on both sides of the Irish Sea. 

“This is something that’s part of living on an island,” he said. “We just have to get on with it and we live with it.”

“But it’s not easy on our members,” he said, explaining that “for the next two days the trucks are going to be idle”. 

The delays will have a knock-on effect on supply chains for days to come as costs mount for drivers and their employers.