A derogation on tree felling and hedge-cutting starting this March is required in order to be prepared for the next storm, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Louth TD Paula Butterly said that lessons can be learned from storm Éowyn for future storms to prevent the loss of power and the delays to restoring power that occurred.

Currently, there is a ban on tree and hedge-cutting from 1 March to 31 August.

One of the major challenges in restoring power in the aftermath of storm Éowyn was the quantity of trees that had fallen, Deputy Butterly said.

Proximity

“The issue of the proximity of trees to broadband cables and parts of the electricity grid must be addressed before the next storm.

"Storms don’t wait to see is there a ban on felling trees or cutting hedges back.

"We need to look at restricting the height and quantity of trees around power lines and this can only be achieved by allowing ESB to collaborate with local authorities, landowners and licensed tree surgeons to fell or cut back any trees in close proximity to electrical wires, buildings and roads, irrespective of whether they are healthy or not," she said.

The potential of damage to life, the disruption to families in their homes and the cost to communities and businesses as a result of storm damage is too great not to warrant a derogation, Deputy Butterly said.

“Current legislation allows landowners and public authorities only to cut hedges during the closed period for road safety reasons, but we need to see this extended so that if there are concerns [that] powerlines could be impacted with adverse weather that they may also get an exemption.

“Funding must be given to the relevant bodies to carry out these essential works, as failing to do so would be more costly in the long term," she said.

While it's right that we protect our hedgerows and that we do what we can to protect our biodiversity, Deputy Butterly argued that safety needs to be the number one priority when it comes to storms.

“The Minister [of State] for forestry and the Minister {of State] for nature, heritage and biodiversity must seriously consider implementing this derogation, so people across the country can be reassured that when the next storm hits, everything has been done to ensure power is not lost and where it is lost, can be recovered quickly,” concluded Deputy Butterly.