Farmers around the country are counting the cost of the damage of storm Éowyn after farm buildings and forestry were destroyed by the record-breaking winds.

Roofs were blown off sheds, thousands of hectares of forestry have been flattened, livestock were killed and polytunnels torn apart by the storm.

As over 130,000 homes, farms and businesses enter a seventh day without power, the Government, ESB and Uisce Éireann have been accused of “not only being asleep at the wheel but snoring at the wheel” in terms of their “abysmal preparedness” for storm Éowyn.

“It was not as if the authorities hadn’t gotten a warning; storm Darragh had highlighted how vulnerable our essential services are,” said INHFA president Vincent Roddy.

He questioned why senior ESB management had not undertaken a thorough risk assessment of the grid following the storms of recent years.

“ESB will now have to look again at putting all essential power lines underground,” the INHFA leader maintained.

IFA farm family chair Teresa Roche said that the loss of power and water had disrupted farming activities and left many households struggling to meet basic needs, while the ICMSA has called for all farm inspections to be suspended for a week to allow farmers to recover.