I am one of the many who were without power, water, phone, and internet as a result of Storm Éowyn.
Thankfully on the evening of day six, water was restored and on day seven, we got power. Phone coverage is still patchy, but I no longer have to go outside and stand on one exact spot at my shed to receive or send texts and I can now make and receive calls.
That said, broadband is still down (I write this via a hotspot someone has given me access to temporarily). As I write this, it is day 10.
We have many lessons to learn from this storm. (1) our over-reliance on the use of the internet for public service messaging and (2) how the ESB automated phone service provides information.
My parish was told ESB would be restored tomorrow at 9pm, then tomorrow came and it was to be the next tomorrow and so on.
Being told via the radio to go online to check for updates was beyond laughable. My outstretched arm at my shed just wasn’t magic enough.
How we cope with the next storm is going to become a problem each household is going to have to responsible for themselves — given the clear lack of government preparedness and its slow rollout of hubs, not to mention the dragged-out teeth pulling asking the EU for help.
In this house, we’ve turned to the old pen and paper as we amend our storm check list. A list telling us what do ahead of the next storm, during it and after it (e.g. checking for boil water notices, another issue I encountered without broadband).
I feel for those who had no access to heat (we had a log burner which I must admit cooked me a lovely veg stew, fried cod and pasta and eggs), those caring for people, and those bedridden or incapacitated. As ever, our society is organised around the able bodied and not the vulnerable.
Finally, the one hope I have from all of this is the ingenuity and kindness of friends and my community. There were texts asking “do you have enough fuel?” “I got my water back, come to mine and shower”, “do you want to wash clothes at mine?” and even a text of “I’ve got the milk outside the back door and its keeping it cool, since I lost all my fridge/freezer”.
People are resilient. But people also need access to help and that help appears to be lacking in Dáil Éireann where hours of meetings have been held regarding speaking rights.
I very much look forward to the next election.
Marie Hanna Curran, Ballinasloe, Co Galway
We need to get Trump on our side
I found Alan Healy’s article (Ireland’s small, open economy is about to be put to the test, Irish Examiner, February 3) to be a most compelling read.
Mr Healy delineates how, in the first 11 months of 2024, we exported €67bn worth of goods to the US, including €41bn worth of medicinal and pharmaceutical products. He also goes on to say that, as a result of the possible tariffs, our booming whiskey industries could suffer too.
Ostensibly, whiskey exports totalled a billion euro last year, with 40% of it going to the US.
We are a small, open economy and one senses that, if Donald Trump moves ahead with his threatened tariffs, Ireland’s food and drink sectors could be the ones that take the biggest hit.
It appears that nine cabinet ministers will be dispatched stateside next month for their traditional St Patrick’s Day events with claims there’s even consideration being given to recruiting star golfers like Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in a bid to establish common ground with President Trump. St Patrick’s Day is big celebratory day in the US and with so many Irish politicians being present stateside on that day, it signals a golden opportunity for our politicians to connect with Trump in the hope that he will look favourably on Ireland. It’s a long shot but at least it’s worth a try.
John O’Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Tariffs could leave Ireland exposed
Trump tariffs make our position extremely, if not gravely, vulnerable in Ireland with our substantial reliance on the pharmaceutical sector.
Even with controversial Irish tax leniency for foreign multinationals, tariffs could wipe out the attractiveness of coming and staying in Ireland. This country should brace itself for the fallout which will equate to massive jobs losses.
The US is objectively correct in saying that the EU does not take US cars and other products, despite persistently looking for US investment. One must remember the Marshall Aid programme that the US gave to rebuild Europe after the war. There is no giving without getting and the US is now in that mode of thinking.
Maurice Fitzgerald, Shanbally, Co Cork
‘It’s only a game’
Players banging into each other aggressively, trying to bully each other, pulling and dragging, jerseys being torn, helmets being pulled off, wild swinging of hurlers, vitriol and bile by some supporters at opposing players and each other’s children crying in the stands.
A picture of some dystopian future? No. Just characteristics that have been happening between Cork and Limerick hurling teams in the last three games.
I would ask both management teams to address their players and supporters and each other if need be to dial it all down before, God forbid, someone gets seriously injured and you turn a whole young generation off hurling. We need to get back to a healthy rivalry between two neighbouring counties.
As Eamonn Dunphy so succinctly put it in his book, it’s only a game. I think we all need to remember that.
Pat O Brien, Kilfinane, Co Limerick
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Garda headwear is not the issue
All the hype about the type of cap or hat a garda wears is nonsense.
What taxpayers and citizens are interested in, and want and expect and have a right to, is a prompt, effective, and efficient service.
That’s a proactive one with reliable GPS at all times as part of the uniform, one that provides timely and effective response to all incidents. The word force needs to be replaced by service.
Perhaps a worthwhile project for next year’s Young Scientists at the RDS would be how modern technology, including AI, could be used to enable An Garda Síochána to deliver a better and more efficient service to Ireland, as well as better prevention, and also if Garda training and PSNI training should be amalgamated into the one service for the entire island.
More garda reserves should be recruited and they should be used in better ways.
Reserves would be capable of staffing Garda stations, answering phone queries, signing documents, recording necessary reports etc in to computers. No need for gardaí to sit in Garda stations.
The reserves could and should also accompany a garda on foot, bicycle, car patrol. One garda, one reservist.
The reservist could drive and when the garda is on patrol, she or he should be watching and aware of what’s going on, all around. Not just in front of their nose.
This would be a great project for this year’s students who could spend time in Garda stations, and foot, and car patrol with a garda, and a reservist.
Margaret Walshe, Clonsilla Rd, Dublin 15
Postal service
On January 30, I received a Christmas card posted in London in mid-December. For some time, friends in the UK have been complaining to me about the catastrophic state of their postal service, seeing it as a measure of the recent decline of Britain.
The chaotic state of the British postal service appears to be the consequence of the privatisation of the Royal Mail in 2013. This surely is a warning to keep An Post in State ownership.
J Anthony Gaughan, President, Irish PEN, Blackrock, Co Dublin
