Medical Aids and Appliances
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

I thank both Deputies for raising this important Topical Issue. I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on this important matter on behalf of the Minister.
This Government takes the safety of vulnerable individuals in our society extremely seriously and recognises the effect of Storm Éowyn and the impact it had on power, water and telecommunications services for those individuals. The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht is responsible for the seniors alert scheme, which provides older people with personal monitored alarms. These personal alarms operate over available telecoms networks to connect users to the monitoring services, allowing users to call for assistance. Since the scheme was launched in 2015, 159,090 participants have been approved, including more than 17,700 in 2025 alone. Participants are provided with the device for free as well as free monitoring for the first year.
I am informed by the Minister, Deputy Calleary’s officials that the Department is currently reviewing all aspects of the seniors alert scheme, including the technology and services available, and plans to launch a new iteration of the scheme in 2026. The new scheme will take account of the learnings from recent weather events and will also have regard to modern technology advancements to ensure that the most reliable, robust devices currently available are procured.
With regard to the broader issue of connectivity losses during emergencies and the work ongoing in the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport in relation to this issue, the Deputies should be aware that the provision of electronic communication services such as mobile phone and broadband services is a matter for telecommunications operators, which operate in a liberalised market, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. ComReg is independent in the exercise of its functions in accordance with section 11 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002.
Storm Éowyn had an unprecedented impact on telecommunications networks. The impact of power loss on the sector during the storm, and delays to repair of overhead lines in some areas afterwards, had significant effects on citizens, particularly in rural areas of the north and west. The Government and the telecommunications industry recognise the challenges faced by those whose telecommunications connectivity was impacted during the storm, in particular vulnerable individuals who rely on the functioning of this technology for health monitoring and pendant alarms.
Since the storm, the Department has undertaken significant engagement with a variety of stakeholders to address gaps in sectoral preparedness and response. Operators have independently assessed their preparedness and committed to a variety of network-specific measures, including reviewing the power requirements of sites, acquiring additional backup battery and generator capacity, preventative network maintenance, enhancing redundancy with backup routes to their core networks, and accelerating the use of satellites to provide additional resilience.
The Department has formed the telecommunications response and resilience group, the purpose of which is to promote resilience and high availability of Ireland’s telecommunications infrastructure and to provide a co-ordinated sectoral emergency response capability. The members of the group, which include Government stakeholders, ComReg and industry, have agreed an initial work plan to include the development of measures to improve the physical and power resilience of networks, co-ordinate and communicate more effectively during emergencies, and prioritise key infrastructure to provide minimum levels of connectivity during emergencies. The focus of the group’s initial efforts is to improve the resilience of telecommunications sites, particularly mobile, as well as communication and co-ordination between response stakeholders. These broad, impactful and achievable measures will restore connectivity more quickly to all customers during emergencies, particularly those who rely on using health monitoring and pendant alarms.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15