The Tánaiste is well aware that a few months ago, at the end of January, there was a devastating storm in the west midlands and the north west. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, are well familiar with the devastation that has been caused. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, has had meetings with the different communications outfits.

Four months later, however, we see parts of Roscommon and east Galway such as Creggs - I sent the Tánaiste a photo of Creggs this morning - where there are six communication lines for phones. The local people had to get a ratchet strap and tie the pole back. It broke and they had to do it again. This happened four months ago and the pole is still thrown there. Areas like Cloonfad, Ballymoe and a number of other areas are left devastated and without phone lines. It is not about the phone line because in some cases they have gone back and repaired the broadband, but the phone line is a lifeline to the elderly people for when you need your panic button. I know the Minister had meetings with them; I acknowledge that. I ask the Tánaiste and his Government to put the pressure on. I also ask that the communications regulator start taking the finger out to the likes of Eir because they should be ashamed of themselves the way they have treated the people who have been affected in that area.

Following on from that - and I know there are two Ministers here from the Department of agriculture - in Cloonbonniffe, Carrowbehy, the Coney Island area and Gortaganny over the last few weeks a huge amount of forestry has been burned. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, has talked about a reconstitution grant for the windblown timber. A great many people had timber over the last few weeks burned. All you can do is cut it down now because it is smothered after the fires. I ask that when the Government brings in the reconstitution grant for those people who have been affected in the last few months, the Government help those people. After 20 years, there is no insurance on most of this. This has been devastating in that area, and I ask the Government to consider under the reconstitution grant what is only a small token of help because these people have lost everything. Whatever about the people in the windblown timber, at least they can try to cut it now and try to get it to sawmills, but where it has got burned, it is destroyed. You basically bring in a woodchipper and try to chip up whatever is there, but they have lost everything. In the coming months, when the Government is doing the reconstitution grants, would it consider trying to include those people along with the windblown timber?

Those are the two items that I ask that the Tánaiste's Government address.

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for raising this important issue and, in fairness to him, for raising it consistently in terms of the aftermath of Storm Éowyn and the impact it has had on people across our country, but most particularly the elongated impact it has had on people living in rural or more disperse communities, many of which I know he represents in his constituency.

I will deal first with the issue relating to Eir. I agree with the Deputy. I do not want to say anything that cuts across the regulator but Eir really needs to step up in how it deals with customers. I have heard this in countless locations. Eir has informed the telecommunications regulator, ComReg, that all storm-related repairs for the remaining affected customers will be completed by 3 June, next week. This excludes 11 cases where there is a third-party constraint like access rights outside of Eir's control. Eir has told the Government that everything within its control will be completed by 3 June. ComReg will monitor the restoration work until it is completed. The Government will continue to ensure that the resilience of the communications network and the capacity to quickly restore services in the aftermath of events such as Storm Éowyn are improved, which they clearly need to be.

As the Deputy referenced, the Ministers, Deputies O'Donovan and Calleary, are engaging intensively on this matter. There was a meeting of the mobile phone and broadband task force last week, convened by the two Ministers. The task force meeting was attended by all mobile and fixed-network operators affected by Storm Éowyn, ComReg, representatives of local authorities and ESB Networks. A key focus of the meeting was issues around network resilience and service restoration with a view to having a firm action plan in place before next winter to reduce the impacts experienced in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. Knowing the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, we can be particularly sure that he expressed his frustration at the meeting regarding Eir's inability to restore services to all customers nearly 18 weeks later. It is farcical. He has also held meetings with individual operators to address network resilience concerns. For example, he met Vodafone last week and will shortly meet the CEO and the owner of Eir.

ComReg is the statutorily independent regulator. It is currently reviewing the performance of operators with regard to service restoration in the aftermath of the storm. It is also conducting a review of the applicable regulations to ensure that they are fit for purpose. It is then a matter for ComReg to decide whether action needs to be taken against operators. ComReg will send a report of this review to the Minister. There are a few aspects: looking at the performance of operators after this storm and whether action is needed by the regulator; looking at regulations and whether they need to be strengthened; and from the point of view of the Government and operator working together, what more we need to do in terms of resilience in future storms.

The Deputy also raised the broader issue of forestry and timber and considering changes to the various schemes. I thank him for the photographs he sent my office this morning. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, are here today and will have heard the Deputy. I am sure they will reflect on the constructive suggestions he made.