Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
803. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps his Department has taken on foot of the action in the ESB Networks Winter 2025 Grid Resilience Plan, regarding a "co-operative effort between ESB Networks, Coillte and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to identify at-risk segments of the network for priority remediation"; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72425/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing storms Darragh and Éowyn, my Department and Coillte collaborated with ESB Networks to assess windblown areas along power lines in forests. An ESB Networks Winter 2025 Resilience Plan was finalised. The objective of that plan is to enhance the resilience of the grid in the most vulnerable locations and along certain priority forestry corridors. This work involving tree cutting in the vicinity of ESB lines in these priority areas is ongoing in both Coillte and privately owned forests. This is with the agreement of any landowner involved.
My Department and Coillte are continuing to engage with the Department of Climate, Energy & the Environment and the ESB on forestry corridor working groups. These are considering legislative powers as well as the various aspects of implementation, including corridor widths, compensation, stakeholder engagement, operational processes and environmental considerations.
On 29th July the Government approved the priority drafting of the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Bill 2025 which will enhance the resilience of the electricity grid. The purpose of this Bill is to enable proactive measures, such as the establishment and maintenance of designated forestry corridors within existing forestry. My Department has inputted to the framework for the draft legislation, which amongst other things is intended to ensure that the ESB will be fully empowered to better manage this issue in the future.
