Medical Aids and Appliances
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Conor D. McGuinness (SF), Waterford

To follow on from what Deputy Byrne said, it is not good enough for the Government just to acknowledge the challenge and engage with industry on this. That is helpful, but it does not change the reality on the ground. Older people were left without monitoring during Storm Éowyn and will be again when future storms that are bound to come cause similar levels of destruction. The same vulnerabilities remain in place and that is what needs to be tackled. Copper-based alarm systems are still widely used, fragile and unsupported by mobile backup. We need to see the Government investing in that stock of mobile devices that can be deployed at short notice in those communities that are impacted. Community organisations should not be left to absorb this level of risk indefinitely. Families cannot substitute for a functioning system when a storm hits.
We also need to see local authorities empowered to deal with trees that are not being cut down by landowners. Anyone in this Chamber who used to be a councillor will say that the most a local authority can really do is write letter after letter to a landowner, sometimes a landowner who is no longer receiving letters and may no longer even exist on this Earth. It is really important that local authorities be empowered to tackle these and are resourced to do that work.

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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