Rachel Connolly addresses Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Co Roscommon after Storm Éowyn.RTÉ News, TikTok
Rachel Connolly, a resident of Castlerea in Co Roscommon, is going viral today for pressing Taoiseach Micheál Martin about the ongoing power outages in her area following the record-breaking Storm Éowyn last week.
The Status Red Storm Éowyn rolled into Ireland late last Thursday and continued through much of the day on Friday.
Notably, Storm Éowyn struck the same day that Martin became Taoiseach and the new Cabinet was appointed. The Dáil is now in the midst of a two-week recess.
On Tuesday, Connolly addressed the Taoiseach as he visited the community hub in Castlerea.
The Roscommon woman said she has lost power four times in the past 12 months and that three of those times, she lost "the entire contents of my fridge and freezer."
The Taoiseach attempted to tell Connolly that there are "facilities" to assist, but Connolly retorted, "There's no facilities around here."
"No, there's a scheme to replenish that," the Taoiseach continued.
"We're told that," Connolly said, "but how do we access that?"
The Taoiseach said he and his team would get her the "details" of the scheme, but Connolly highlighted how local people have very little access to the Internet or phone.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Roscommon in an emergency hub for people who have no energy or water
Rachel Connolly, who has lost electricity for days at a time four times in the last 12 months, questioned whether enough was done before storm to shield communities pic.twitter.com/tp3LdhWV3N
— Louise Burne (@louiseburne_) January 28, 2025
Pivoting, Connolly continued: "Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you have something in place before? You knew this was coming."
The Taoiseach began to reply: "We did have -"
Connolly interjected: "No, you didn't.
"I have no power coming until the 5th of February.
"The only person that prepared for this in my home and in my village is the people who live there.
"I have had no contact from any member of any authority of any part of the Government.
"You need to get the Dáil, you need to bring it up here to the Western Development Commission - you go and sit and hold the Dail there for two days - no power, no water.
"I'll tell ya, I'll tell ya, we'll have no kneejerk reaction then. Okay?"
Connolly added that she is "very, very frustrated."
Acknowledging that he could "understand the anger," the Taoiseach said that the National Coordination and Emergency Group "met well in advance of this storm because they knew how severe this storm was going to be."
"Good," Connolly said.
He continued: "Every single agency in the country, every local authority, filtered into that group and were asked for their plans.
"All of them, by the way, have standing plans. The local authority had - you made your point, just want to make this point -"
Connolly said: "Well, with respect, Taoiseach, I don't know if I'm the only one here, but those plans didn't work."
The Taoiseach went on to say that the overriding priority for the storm, which he noted was the worst in Ireland in 50 or 60 years, was to prevent the loss of life.
"And do you not understand that if we don't start getting our hygiene," Connolly said, as the Taoiseach tried to make his "final point."
"No, no," Connolly said, "I'm not a politician, so I'm going to make my final point which is that we already having a breakdown in hygiene.
"In the most civilized, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that's not acceptable.
"No handwashing facilities in a house for seven days is unacceptable."
The viral interaction comes as ESB, Ireland’s foremost energy company, issued an update on the continuing efforts to restore power to customers after Storm Éowyn.
“Storm Éowyn brought unprecedented, widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure resulting in 768,000 customers losing supply,” ESB said on Tuesday.
ESB said that as of 11:30 am on Tuesday, its networks had restored supply to 600,000 homes, farms, and businesses - but that approximately 168,000 customers remained without supply.
“Further support has arrived from Austria and Finland this morning," ESB said on Tuesday, "while additional crews from electricity network operators in Netherlands and France are due over the coming days.”
ESB said it has updated the Expected Restoration Times on PowerCheck.ie. "This shows that by Friday 31 January, the vast majority of those impacted by Storm Éowyn will have supply restored."
Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann, Ireland's state-owned water utility company, said that as of lunchtime on Tuesday, approximately 11,500 premises supplying 31,000 people remain without water.
"This is down from a peak of over 200,000 following Storm Éowyn," Uisce Eireann said.