Varadkar fears ‘people might be found dead in their homes’

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said he fears people may be found “dead in their homes” in isolated areas in the coming days following last week’s snow storm.

Speaking during a visit to Wexford yesterday, one of the areas worst hit by Storm Emma, Mr Varadkar met frontline workers including gardaí, hospital staff and council workers.

He paid tribute to the efforts of all of the State agencies involved as well as volunteers.

Mr Varadkar pointed out that there have been a number of road fatalities in recent days, although it is unclear if they were caused by the weather.

“But there have been a number of deaths, sadly, and of course there is the possibility that as we clear the roads as we get out to isolated areas, that we may find people dead in their homes in the coming days.

“I think it is true to say that things could have been very much worse had it not been for the enormous response of the public service, of gardaí, the health service, the Defence Forces, Civil Defence, all of the different voluntary groups who pulled together, I think, in the last couple of days.

“We spend most of the year and most of the time talking about what doesn’t work in Ireland but it’s on occasions like this that we actually see how well things can work, particularly when people pull together,” he said.

He also added: “I think, going forward, we’ll have to think about whether we’ll have to encourage people to hold a certain amount of stock in their houses and so on.”

The Taoiseach said that in the last few days we had witnessed “the full force of mother nature, the worst snow storm in 35 years”.

While most areas are returning to normal, the worst affected parts such as Wexford, west Wicklow and north Kildare will have the resources of the rest of the State put into them to help with the clean-up.

Asked if the cost of that cleanup, and any repairs to roads or other amenities, will be borne by the Government, he said: “It’s always the case that after a severe weather event like this, whether it’s flooding or storms, that additional resources can be provided by central Government so the short answer to your question is ‘yes’.

“The longer answer is it’s not possible to estimate how much will be required at this stage. It takes a number of weeks to estimate the damage and what additional resources will be needed.”

Mr Varadkar visited Wexford General Hospital and also the local ambulance base.

Garda Chief Superintendent John Roche said an upside to the storm had been the lack of crime, as the criminals couldn’t move around.

“They managed to get around in Dublin,” the Taoiseach said.