Power cuts spark anger

RESIDENTS and business people have expressed their frustration following a succession of rolling power cuts that have hit parts of the Southside in recent months.

Southside People has learned that locals and businesses in the Jobstown and Springfield areas of Tallaght have been subjected to increasingly frequent and longer disruptions to their electricity supply in recent months.

They say that the outages have often lasted for several hours, causing considerable inconvenience for residents.

John Kiernan, a resident of Kilclare in Jobstown, said that as far as he was aware hundreds of homes in the Dromcarra, Kilclare, Bawnlea, Springfield and Raheen areas had been affected by the cuts.

He claimed the power outages, which have been occurring for over five years, can sometimes last for up to 12 hours and take place as frequently as a dozen times a year.

“The electricity has been going off here over the last five years but in the last year and a half it has become worse,

? he said.

“It used to go off for around six or seven hours sometimes but now it is getting longer. One day there recently it went off at about 7pm and didn’t come back until 8am.

?

Yvette Costello, who also lives in Kilclare, said her home was affected twice recently within the space of one week. She echoed the claims made by Mr Kiernan and said the outages had been a long standing problem that the ESB had failed to rectify.

“It went off for about six hours the first time,

? she recalled.

“The second time it happened in the morning and I had no bottles made up for my 13-week-old baby. So far this year it happened about four times.

?

She added:

“This has been going on for years and nothing has ever been done about it. It is only recently that I have had the baby that I am a bit more worried about it.

?

The manager of a retail outlet at Fortunestown Shopping Centre in Springfield confirmed that units at the centre often experience frequent power cuts.

“We had a power cut only last Saturday week,

? he said.

“This is a fairly frequent occurrence. We would ring the ESB on behalf of the other shops that don’t have generators to try to get the power back. We were told they didn’t know when it would be back. We got no information basically.

?

Deputy Sean Crowe (SF) has called on the ESB to carry out and publish a report on the matter.

“I am a requesting a report be made public, outlining why this is happening in this specific location,

? he said.

“The failures are not just an awkward inconvenience but in some cases are causing real hardship for local residents.

?

A spokesperson for the ESB confirmed that power outages had occurred recently in the area on June 28, August 20 and August 28. He said the power cuts had been caused by a cable fault.

“This cable fault has been repaired and ESB Networks will be replacing the full section of cable over the next four weeks as part of a network improvement programme,

? the spokesperson said.

“This will greatly enhance the electrical infrastructure and improve the quality of supply in the area.

?