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THREE DAYS AFTER Storm Éowyn caused extensive damage across the country, many are still dealing with the aftermath.
With 100,000 people likely to have to wait until next week for their power to be restored, and tens of thousands still without water, local businesses and community centres have opened their doors to help those without supply.
In some of the worst affected areas including counties Mayo, Leitrim, Clare and Galway, local communities are rallying to provide access to water and power for those who need it.
Patrick Mullan, community co-ordinating officer at the Rossinver Community Centre in Co Leitrim, said that the county had been “hit badly” by the storm.
The centre, which provides youth and family services as well as a drugs taskforce for the north Leitrim community of Rossinver, opened its doors this morning to the public to provide free charging points, water and food.
“We were lucky enough to be in one of the few remaining parts of the community with power this morning, but a number of locals were in complete darkness and needed somewhere safe to be,” Mullan said.
Mullan, whose house has been without power since Friday afternoon, said that a number of elderly residents in the area had been severely affected by the outages.
There were roughly 10,000 homes and businesses without power across Co Leitrim by Saturday, according to the ESB.
“It’s not been easy here. One local told me she had lost everything in her fridge by Sunday because of the power outage,” Mullan said.
“Another resorted to buying a camping stove to try and cook some food, but it only lasted for five minutes.”
Mullan added that he had called to a number of nearby residences with his wife, a HSE carer, to check on elderly residents, leaving them with hot water bottles, fresh food and blankets.
“It’s like a step back in time,” Mullan said. “The fact that we have power, it means we can give people a little bit of a refuge and help them escape the cabin fever.
Many of them are cold and alone, without the help I don’t know what would happen to them.”
“You have to hand it to the emergency workers, I’ve seen them chopping down trees and fixing power lines, they’ve been kept very busy.”
Mullan added that the Rossinver Community Centre “will continue to provide services as long as they are needed”.
Bernard Cahill, Wellbeing Manager of the Armada Hotel in Spanish Point, Co Clare, said the site has become a busy hub for the local community following the storm, which left roughly 22,000 homes and businesses without power in the county.
Approximately 16,000 homes and businesses remain without power across the county, the ESB said today.
“We had a plan in place, and the team here have been amazing,” Cahill said, describing how some hotel staff stayed overnight in the hotel on Thursday in preparation for the storm.
“We lost our electricity, power and water on Friday, which obviously had a massive impact.
“We got water and internet back very quickly, and managed to get power back working too soon enough. We even had a wedding on Saturday after the storm, which went ahead without a hitch!” Cahill said.
He added that ESB workers had briefly passed by the hotel while they continued repair works, and refused free lunches from the hotel restaurant.
“What they’re doing is such hard work, you bcan’t help but commend the ESB workers for not stopping. They look tired, but they’re still hard at it,” Cahill said.
The hotel has since been providing charging points, drinks and snacks, hot water and showers to locals in the area affected by power and water outages.
Yesterday we had 200 families avail of the showers here.
“It’s been busy but it’s the least we can do,” Cahill said.
“Locals shouldn’t feel like they have to spend any money to have access to basic services during outages like this.
“When the hotel opened around 40 years ago, we wouldn’t have stayed open without the support of locals. Now we get to pay it back to the community, and put our values to the test,” Cahill said.
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I just simply ran a cable under the Irish sea to a friend’s in Wales and hooked up to their box with a splitter.
Try a vpn way cheaper
Genius ;)
Lol u live up to ur name cupid!
Simply install AnonymouX and you can change your ip address to a UK one and watch BBC online if you so wish.
Tips and tricks 2015
Just use a proxy/VPN. I use ZenMate from the Chrome Web Store. It’s free and you can change your IP address to one from the UK, US, Germany, Romania or Hong Kong.
Hola is a service that tacks on to your browser and changes you to the US or UK at the touch of a button.
I use hola on the lap top and my iPhone. It’s great for netflix and I’ve never had a problem with it
You just risk someone else looking at dodgy content on your ip address that could land you in trouble. Never heard of Zenmate. Does the same risk apply and does it work on iOS??
You could just not look at ‘dodgy content’. Or if you have to look whatever that is, just do it when you don’t have the vpn turned on and just let Eircom/UPC look at your ‘dodgy content’.
The way Hola works is someone in another country could be looking at all sorts if stuff but yet the cops will knock on your door.
I’ve read my post 3 times now and I still can’t understand how you misunderstood it???
@Darren – re-read Bob’s initial comment, he’s correct in what he’s saying.
Why not just throw a £5 paywall on it for people outside the UK?
RTE could make a buck by doing the same, they’ll probably ruin it though, and get greedy.
They’d actually make a good bit on it, with the positive reaction to the hurling on Sky last year.
I only watch it for the Angelus myself.
Because nobody would pay to watch Fair City…
Fairly Sh!tty :)
And this is why God invented IP proxy services. I can happily watch BBC and US Netflix from the comfort of my sitting room. The world and technology is changing quicker than regulation can keep up!
F*ck the story, isn’t my angel Benedict looking beautiful?
I thought I’d find you letching here…
You can get all the UK channels at filmon.com for free, streaming in real time. Many other country’s channels too, works great in Ireland.
Hola Unblocker is brilliant! I watch BBC, CBS, Hulu with no problems.
+1
Hold works great. Watched the whole world snooker championship with no stoppages
if only there were some way to use a proxy to fool the BBC website into thinking your browser originates in the UK. But as far as I know no such technology exists and we will have to make do with RTE…
No one is saying there’s no way around it now! But obviously it would be far better if you didn’t have to find a back door in the first place.
That said, what on earth does “cross-border access to the content [...but not...] wanting to destroy this principle of territoriality” mean? He didn’t think that might need a little clarification?
Bismarck would be happy
Does anyone care??!!!!
Yes. The hundreds of thousands of us who use Netflix from Ireland, for example.
Yes you pay for a service that shafts you even before you start to watch. European version of netflix is terrible. The American version has way more content. Hence your getting shafted. Get what you can for free. It’s always better when it’s free.
Type stream into Google. Whatever happens after that is up to you
And they wonder why there’s piracy. Take what you can get after all even if your a good law abiding citizen your still going to get shafted all the way to the bank. Thats a fact. So don’t start with the smart comments. Just enjoy life. After all one way or another we’re all getting robbed ripped off and scammed. If you worry you die. If you don’t worry you still die. Enjoy life
Hidninja vpn …problem solved ..
I have iPlayer on my Sky box and I swear, I may have used it once in the past 3 months. You’re not missing too much.
I recently rented a book from the library, The Gym Bible , I was so impressed with it I decided I would buy it online , when I searched for it I discovered that it could be downloaded for free, happy days until it said that content was not available to download outside of America. I did but it in the end online for €20 but if i didnt have to i wouldnt have .
ExPat Shield is brilliant for changing your IP address to a UK one. Works perfectly for BBC or ITV players.
Their blocking UK based vpns now as well.
have your say