Unexplained power outages persist in Laois

Power outages are so regular in one Laois location a local hotel runs a backup generator for up to a week at a time. 

Cllr PJ Kelly said nobody can explain why the power is regularly going out in Killenard. He said one resident who works from home is in fear of losing his job as a result.  

“I am getting constant phonecalls from people in the Killenard area,” Cllr Kelly told a meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

“There is a hotel there, they have a diesel generator and there are odd weeks that the generator would be running for the whole week,” he said. 

He explained that there was no warning for the outages and it was causing hardship, particularly for people working from home. 

“There’s one individual and they said to me if it continues they will lose their job. He relies completely on power coming to the house,” said Cllr Kelly. 

He claimed “there is no reason at all for the outages.” Expressing his frustration at the lack of progress since he last raised the issue, he said, “I am very serious on this one without going down any bad language roads.”

Cllr Kelly had asked in a motion: “That Laois County Council make contact with the ESB to rectify constant power outages in the Killenard area.”

The written response from the council’s Corporate Affairs was: “The Council will contact the ESB on this issue.”

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Cllr Aidan Mullins offered his support to the motion at the municipal meeting. 

Stating that problems were arising on a “weekly” basis, Cllr Paschal McEvoy said, “obviously the infrastructure over there is not fit for purpose.”

“Somebody told me they don’t know themselves where the problems are coming from,” he said.