Businesses facing ‘significant’ costs in wake of storm
TELECOMS provider Eir said the damage across the country was “unprecedented and widespread” as it counted the cost inflicted by Ophelia.
The chief economist at employers’ group Ibec said damage to people and property was the main cost of the storm, while disruptions – including lost work days – can be made up.
Insurance Ireland said it was too early to put an overall financial price on the damage, but its data shows storms in February 2014 left an insurance bill of €111m in their wake.
Eir said last night that the worst-affected areas of its network so far were in the south-west, west and midlands.
The telecom company’s staff said damage to poles, cables and mast infrastructure would take time to assess and repair.
Storm damage in January and February 2014 left the company with a repair bill of €10m.
The country’s biggest domestically owned insurer, FBD, said damage to farms was expected to be significant after Storm Ophelia initially swept through farming heartlands in Cork, Kerry and Limerick.
However, FBD’s CEO Fiona Muldoon said it was too soon to fully assess the costs.
“While it is too soon to give an estimate of the ultimate net cost of the storm to FBD, unfortunately, given its severity, we can be sure that a number of our customers are affected.
“We will work closely with them over the next few days and weeks to minimise the financial impact to their homes, farms and businesses.”
Ports
Across the country yesterday businesses of all kinds, as well as schools, hospitals and public transport services, were closed.
Little or no traffic passed through ports and airports and on major road networks, with disruptions to supply chains likely to takes days to work through the economy.
Dunnes Stores was among the first big businesses to announce closures yesterday, shuttering stores nationwide before Ophelia made landfall.
It was followed by other retail chains and the main banks, with Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank, AIB and Bank of Ireland shutting the bulk of their branches across the country.
Staff at the Central Bank were advised to stay home, but the regulator said core services would be maintained.
Ibec’s chief economist Fergal O’Brien said the precautions taken yesterday to protect staff and property – including the closure or part-closure of most retail and manufacturing business – would not have a longterm impact on growth.
“A lot of business activity will be made up, in retail the spend gets postponed rather than cancelled, it’s not a question of a day of output being lost,” he said.
The relatively small share of the economy now made up by manufacturing means the cost of disruption is not as great as in the past, he said.
“We’re finding in a lot of services companies even if there is disruption people continue to work from home. Obviously a proportion of activity will be lost, but I suspect it will be small,” said Mr O’Brien.
Following the Status Red warning, the priority for business was to protect the health and safety of employees, he said.