LAST UPDATE | 27 Jan

SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has written to the Taoiseach urging him to reconvene Dáil Éireann after storm Éowyn.

Around 100,000 people are still without water while close to 250,000 people are still without power across the country after the storm struck on Friday. 

ESB say the vast majority of those impacted by Storm Éowyn will have their supply restored by Friday, however it expects that around 100,000 customers will have to wait until the following week.

Dáil Éireann is not sitting this week, as is normal practice after a new government has been put in place, to allow the new ministers get to grips with their new briefs. 

However given the widespread disruption following Friday’s storm, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, Aontú and Independent Ireland have all called for the Dáil to get back to business sooner. 

Minister for Transport and the Environment Darragh O’Brien pushed back on the calls, arguing this afternoon that people shouldn’t be trying to “politicise” the storm.

“No speech in Dáil Éireann is going to restore power or water or assist a community,” O’Brien said this afternoon.

He added that at a political level, the government is providing “whatever support is needed.”

“TDs must be given the opportunity to raise these issues and concerns directly with government and to engage on the responses and supports needed,” McDonald said on X. 

In a statement, acting leader of the Social Democrats Cian O’Callaghan said it “beggars belief that, in the midst of this crisis, there are no plans for the Dáil to sit.”

O’Callaghan said families and communities are being left to pick up the pieces following the storm, which was one of the most powerful and damaging wind events to hit the country in nearly 200 years. 

He said it is “critical” that the Dáil sits to discuss emergency supports. 

Likewise, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín also called for the Dáil to be recalled.

The Meath West TD said that despite the efforts of ESB and its staff, the reconnection of electricity is “not nearly fast enough”, adding that it is “incredible” that the Dáil is not sitting “at this time of crisis”. 

“We have received so many reports of older people and people with disabilities living in homes without any power or water. Many businesses still can’t reopen. There is growing frustration amongst people at the slow pace of reconnection,” Tóibín said in a statement.

“The government is the administration of this country. How can the Dáil administer anything if it’s not sitting. How can TDs properly hold the government to account if it’s not even meeting?” he asked.

Independent Ireland leader Micheal Collins also called for the Dáil to reconvene and said the government had failed to prepare and respond effectively for the storm, leaving communities in “chaos”.

“Families are enduring freezing temperatures without heating, and essential services are disrupted. This is unacceptable,” the Cork South West TD said.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme earlier today, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary said that Taoiseach Micheál Martin is “very much” involved in the government’s response to the storm despite being out of the country currently. 

Martin is in Poland today for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“He has to be at that ceremony, it is a hugely important ceremony,” Calleary said. 

Calleary said the government is doing all it can do get people reconnected. He said he will be on the ground in areas across the west and north west today and tomorrow, and will be bringing a report to Cabinet on Wednesday morning direct from the areas affected.

“I can assure you we are not on holidays,” Calleary said. 

“Rather than making statements in the Dáil, I will be on the ground getting direct experience.”

Calleary added that the National Emergency Coordination Group is meeting every day.