ESB calls in crews from Northern Ireland to help deal with Cork power outages

Almost 40,000 homes in Cork city and county were without power at the peak of storm Eunice on Friday.

The ESB confirmed there were around 33,000 properties without power in the county and another 6,000 in the city at the height of the outages.

A spokesperson for the network said by Saturday evening, everyone will have power back, failing another bout of bad weather.

The ESB spokesperson also said the company was bringing in people power from the North of the country which survived the storm, almost unscathed.

“We are substantially mobilising effectively all available ESB resources in the Northern half of the country are moving south this evening, because they have taken relatively little damage.” 

 The spokesperson also said all planned scheduled work for the weekend has been cancelled and crews from Northern Ireland electricity were also being brought down.

“They are all mobilising to the south of the country, predominately to Cork and Kerry, so we will have a colossal resource of ESB contractor and NI electricity on the ground from before first light on Saturday. We are essentially bringing in all available ESB resources to assist with storm damage.” 

 The ESB emphasized the importance of reporting damaged wires and poles in the coming days as people get out and about over the weekend.

“If any member of the public notice damaged network, stay clear and report to 1800 372 999 and If anyone wants an outage update, powercheck.ie will give a restoration time.”