Storm Darragh: Ireland calls in French support to restore power to 20,000 homes
The ESB crews will now be joined by 60 skilled personnel from Enedis who arrived at Rosslare Europort on Monday afternoon. Picture: Iain White
Crews from French power company Enedis have arrived in Ireland to help ESB Networks restore electricity to about 20,000 customers who are still without power after Storm Darragh.
The worst storm since Storm Ophelia in 2017 caused widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure across the country on Saturday, impacting 395,000 customers at the peak.
ESB Networks crews and partner contractors have restored power to about 375,000 customers since, with about 20,000 still without power as of tea-time on Monday.
The ESB crews will now be joined by 60 skilled personnel from Enedis who arrived at Rosslare Europort on Monday afternoon. They will be deployed in the worst impacted areas in the North West, Midlands and South East.
Their arrival here is part of the longstanding cooperation which is in place with electricity network operators in Ireland, the UK and France.
Following Storm Ophelia in 2017, Enedis crews supported ESB Networks in electricity restoration.
ESB Networks crews helped their French counterparts in November 2023 following Storm Ciarán, which saw 1.2m customers lose supply in the regions of Brittany and Normandy.
James Browne, Minister of State at the Department of Justice with responsibility for International Law, Law Reform and Youth Justice, and H.E. Céline Place, Ambassador of France in Ireland, were at Rosslare Europort to welcome the French repair teams on Monday afternoon.
“The impact of Storm Darragh has been felt right across the country and ESB Networks teams have been working around the clock to restore power to those impacted,” Mr Browne said.
“But given the scale of damage they need support, so I am delighted to welcome the skilled personnel from their French colleagues Enedis."
Nicholas Tarrant, the managing director of ESB Networks, said Storm Darragh has been the most damaging storm since Storm Ophelia in 2017.
“Our crews and partner contractors have been carrying out incredible work right across the country to continue to safely restore power to as many customers as possible in difficult conditions,” he said.
“Due to the severity and significant scale of the damage following Storm Darragh, some customers could be without power for approximately a week so we hope that this will help us to restore power as soon as possible in those worst affected areas.”
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