Condemnation of 'no consultation' on planned power outage
The outage will be the fourth such to be carried out in recent months on a business day, resulting in the temporary closures of businesses in some cases.
"There hasn't been any consultation between ESB Networks and local businesses," says Aidan Cunnane of Woodbine Books, "and given that the power cuts are being implemented for different reasons (broadband upgrade previously, tree cutting next Monday), it appears that some works could have been co-ordinated, resulting in less impact."
The matter was raised this morning on KFM radio by a Kilcullen Community Action representative, Antoinette Buckley, in discussion with Clem Ryan. She referenced a number of businesses who had expressed concerns about the planned outage, including Nolans Butchers ('an absolute disaster'), and Paul Tracy of The River Cafe ('he had to move his ice-cream machines to another location during the last two outages').
"It's just not acceptable, businesses have to close, and they just can't afford that," she noted, and suggested that ESB Networks consider doing this kind of work on Sunday mornings. She said that she had emailed local councillors about the issue, but up to this morning had not had any response. "We really need someone to represent us at local level."
Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin, who was also on the programme, said ESB Networks 'should liaise with local authorities' when scheduling outages.
