In January of this year, Storm Éowyn hit Ireland and left the country reeling. We were not prepared for it and the havoc it wreaked on communities was devastating. Some 750,000 people were left without power and it cost over €300 million to deal with the damage. We were actually quite lucky in that storm because it could have been a whole lot worse. The Climate Change Advisory Council has today been quite critical of the Government's response. At the time, the Government promised it would prepare Ireland for any future storms, yet we still have not seen the promised cross-government report on response plans. We still have not seen things like emergency hubs and the structures for getting those up and running quickly. How will the Taoiseach ensure that if a storm like this hits again, and the chances are it will, we are prepared and local communities are able to deal with it?

That review is going before the emergency development forum, which is imminent. I met with many of the groups after Storm Éowyn. Irish Water, in particular, undertook to immediately procure additional generators for the number of facilities where there had not been generators prior to or during Storm Éowyn. That was one practical step that we could take. We have also undertaken to resource various community-based groups and centres, so there would be one focal point in every area in the event of a storm like this happening again. That would have the necessary generating capacity and the various resources and amenities available for people in a given area to access in the event of being cut off from electricity, hot water, water in general or connectivity through communications. The Departments of agriculture and climate and energy, with respect to the ESB, farming and all of that, will ensure there are proper free corridors in respect of trees and so on.