Roscommon restaurant 'devastated' as it is forced to dump €15,000 worth of food

Richard Canny

The Old Stone House Restaurant in Ballinlough, Co Roscommon still without power since last Friday, has been forced to dump about €15,000 worth of food which had been refrigerated. The wasted stock includes striploin steak, T-Bone streak, fish, and desserts.

“Everything is gone. We are devastated,” said Ray O’Connor, who runs the award-winning restaurant in the west Roscommon village.

It’s been a torrid week for Mr O’Connor who has been left reeling from this latest financial hit following on from the impact of the Covid pandemic.

While he is investigating to see whether some of the losses can be recouped through his insurance, he feels let down by officialdom.

“We are just gutted with the Government. I have no faith in any of them. No-one is talking about businesses being affected by the storm. They knew this storm was coming. I haven’t heard one TD come out and say we are going to help all these businesses that have been closed," he said.

Between full-time and part-time roles, the restaurant employs about 20 people. “If they don’t get work, they’re gone. Same for us, we’ll be gone.”

Mr O’Connor explained the power was restored on Tuesday and he was preparing to re-open the restaurant this weekend before another outage occurred.

“I thought we’d be up and running but it went off again [Thursday] night. I’m told now it could be Saturday evening at 7.30 before the power comes back,” he said.

Now sceptical of estimated restoration times, he is reluctant to order new stock given the uncertainty.

Mr O’Connor fully agrees with the support schemes available for people who have been severely affected by Storm Éowyn but feels there seems to be “nothing” for businesses.

To add to the frustration, Mr O’Connor decided to invest in a new generator late last year because Ballinlough suffered several outages in 2024.

The generator, worth about €25,000, was due to arrive before the end of December, but due to several reasons, it only arrived in the country this morning and now has to go to Dublin for standard checks.

Like his restaurant, the whole village of Ballinlough and many surrounding areas have been without electricity since Friday.