Update on national Storm Éowyn response

As part of the transition to recovery phase in the national response to Storm Éowyn, a meeting of the Cross-Departmental Recovery Group was held today. The Group, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, is coordinating the final actions to restore power, telecommunications and broadband to those experiencing outages. This transition is in line with established interdepartmental and interagency structures for Strategic Emergency Management.

ESB anticipates that all storm-related outages will be restored by the end of today and will continue to review the network for issues. If you are in a position to, please visit the PowerCheck website for further details.

An important Public Safety Message: ESB Networks reminds the public to remain vigilant to the possibility of unidentified low hanging wires and should these be encountered, please keep away and report them to ESB Networks immediately.

The estimated effect of Storm Éowyn on the national telecoms userbase was the largest in ComReg's recording history. As of 10am, Tuesday 11 February:

• 0.32% of fixed service users were without services
• 0.13% of mobile service users were experiencing some level of degradation of service

Repair and restoration work has returned normal services to most customers and several fixed service operator networks have been returned to normal service levels.

Operators continue to focus resources in the worst affected areas to restore services to affected customers. The Cross-Departmental Recovery Group is focusing its efforts to assist operators to return these services to normal as soon as possible.

A total of 11 emergency response hubs remain open in Galway and Mayo. These hubs continue to serve the needs of customers who may be experiencing broadband outages.

Further details on the above hubs are available at www.gov.ie/stormresponse and an interactive map of hubs is available.

ENDS

Humanitarian Assistance Scheme

The Humanitarian Assistance emergency financial payment is available to homeowners in the immediate aftermath of a severe weather event. It is open to homeowners in affected areas who do not have any power or water supply and includes support to pay for alternative accommodation if necessary.

Stage 1 provides emergency support payments for food, clothing and personal items in the immediate aftermath of the event. These payments are not income tested and are generally for essential food and clothing based on the immediate needs of impacted individuals.

Non-income tested support is available under Stage 1 of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for alternative accommodation costs.

The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme can also provide income-tested support for the replacement of goods and more extensive longer-term support.

The Community Welfare Service is working closely with the local authorities and Community Welfare Officers are visiting people in their homes where necessary to provide support.

If any homeowner affected by severe weather needs to access these supports, emergency Community Welfare Service contact details are available on the Department of Social Protection website.

More information on the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is available on the Department of Social Protection website.

Security and scams

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the National Cyber Security Centre are aware of scam text messages in circulation purporting to come from ESB Networks. Users should exercise caution when receiving messages from unknown numbers.

Government departments and agencies or your bank will never phone, text, email or video call you unexpectedly asking for your bank details. Users should not engage directly, nor share any personal information if asked, and should block and report the suspicious number if necessary. If you believe you are a victim of a cyber-crime, contact your local Garda station and take screenshots of texts, emails or other communications.

Further information is available on the ESB website.