Roscommon councillors call for urgent action on forestry impacting on power lines during storms

Roscommon councillors have called for urgent action to prevent forestry impacting on power lines during future storms.

Their call follows extensive damage to the ESB network across the county caused by fallen trees knocked by Storm Éowyn.

During the discussion on the aftermath of the storm at a plenary meeting of the council, its CEO Shane Tiernan said that with 4,000 km of roads in Roscommon, it was an enormous task to remove trees. Mr Tiernan said a significant national scheme was needed to carry out this work as was the case with Japanese Knotweed.

A number of motions were tabled at the meeting. Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Moylan proposed that the local authority write to ESB Networks and National Emergency Coordination Group to ensure compliance with wayleaves and exclusion zones near overhead powerlines, requiring forestry owners to meet clearance standards.

Cllr Moylan said a lot of people, particularly in the north of the county, were without power and water for an extended period of time. He said in most of these cases, the disruption had been caused by “fallen timber on power lines all over our forestry in the north of the county”.

“This is in the most part avoidable. These companies need to be held to account for the issues that are causing these outages. Underground power lines, relocation of cabling etc. all have a place in this but at the end of the day, those options come at huge cost to the state. The real solution is that forests themselves need to be far enough back from the power lines with proper clearance complied with. The ESB and other bodies need to have unhindered and uninterrupted access to these forests to do the remedial and preventative maintenance work,” he said.

Fine Gael councillor Liam Callaghan proposed that the council engage with other agencies such as Coillte, ESB, Eir, Department of Agriculture, Uisce Éireann and farm bodies to discuss a pilot plan that will reduce loss of services, costs and avoid serious injury or death as a result of these storms.

He said the plan should identify dangerous roadside trees, future planning for development of services along our roads and engage with landowners to cut and remove trees.

In a formal reply, the council said that trees on private property were the responsibility of the owner.

“The 1993 Roads Act place a statutory obligation on landowners and occupiers to ensure roadside structures, trees, shrubs or other vegetation do not present a danger to those using and working on public roads,” said the council. “Under the law, landowners are liable for any damage caused by their trees. The council can serve a notice requiring a landowner to take the necessary steps to address any hazards. In the event that the council, as the road authority, has to take action it may recover the costs incurred by it from the landowner.” 

The replied continued: “Dealing with large dangerous roadside trees is a difficult and expensive undertaking. The council agrees that a national approach and response is required. in line with similar notice of motions, the council issued correspondence to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to request that a scheme be put in place to provide financial support to landowners to deal with this issue.” The council said that currently there was no such specific funding from the Department but it published guidance on the subject of roadside trees, in partnership with the Tree Council of Ireland. This provides guidance to landowners on how to manage roadside trees and to assess risk associated with trees.

The council said it was currently drafting a county tree management policy. The policy will also offer guidance and encouragement to landowners to manage their roadside trees in a responsible manner.

During the debate, Cllr Callaghan also told the meeting that he was fearful for members of the farming community. He said they had cattle in sheds with the roofs blown off and it was also a very volatile time of the year as stock needed constant care and feed. The Fine Gael councillor called for supports to be put in place for the farming community.

Independent councillor Laurence Fallon suggested that the council write to Uisce Eireann and the minister to ensure generators are in place into the future at all reservoirs for pumping purposes to ensure that they don’t run dry. He also proposed that the local authority correspond with the ESB and minister for energy to explore how vulnerability of power lines to falling trees could be reduced, and how many could be placed underground.

Independent councillor Tom Crosby urged the local authority to write to the minister for finance for funding for generators for those with medical aids, and in areas where outages are very frequent. Fianna Fáil councillor John Keogh made a formal proposal that generators be retrofitted to GAA clubs with the assistance of central funding, and that frontline workers be provided with adequate telecommunications support during severe weather events.

During the meeting, Fine Gael councillor Gareth Scahill was informed that the overall cost incurred by the three municipal districts in relation to the previous storm - Storm Darragh - was just over €34,406. This figure relates exclusively to staffing, fire services and contractor costs. These costs were recouped from a discretionary fund, funded by the Department of Transport.

Cllr Scahill also proposed that the army be made available to support agencies with the work in removing fallen trees.

Council Cathaoirleach, Fianna Fáil councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice, called on the council to write to the minister to introduce an emergency felling licence in areas where foresty had fallen, and proposed that no trees be planted within 30 metres of power lines.

Fianna Fáil councillor Marty McDermott proposed that the Government provide supports to assist landowners in removing roadside trees while Independent councillor Emer Kelly proposed that a letter go to the Department of Agriculture to ensure funding is made available to help secure farm buildings affected by the storm.

Indoor and outdoor council staff, other agencies, community volunteers, the farming community, local businesses, GAA clubs and community organisations were thanked for their work during Storm Éowyn and in its aftermath.

The council meeting was informed that, in line with the National Emergency Co-ordination Group, emergency response hubs had been established across the county to help people with basic needs such as food, water, and access to charging facilities.

This week, Cllr Moylan said the fatigue and stress felt by people at this stage was huge. He said the ESB, their contractors, and all council staff and utility companies were in full emergency mode and working around the clock to restore roads, power and water.

The councillor said the Government's humanitarian support scheme was available to those in need.

"I would appeal to people to avail of it. Make sure to contact myself or any of your local representatives if you have more complex needs where we can look at moving people into hotel accommodation, etc.

"The Taoiseach has given Martin Daly TD an assurance that people will be reimbursed for accommodation costs in these situations. We do not want our people to go through any unnecessary hardship," he said.