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SOME 190,000 HOMES and business are still without power this morning in the wake of yesterday’s massive storm.
ESB Networks says it’s brought in crews from Northern Ireland to help get people back online. Helicopters are being used to survey the system and identify breaks in supply.
At the peak of the storm around 250,000 customers were without power. 70,000 were reconnected since yesterday evening.
The south of the country is worst affected, and crews from elsewhere are being reassigned to Cork, Kerry, Waterford and elsewhere in the area.
It’s expected it will be late this evening before power is restored to most customers, according to ESB Networks. However:
…it is expected that a large number of customers will be still without power tonight.Therefore customers should make preparations for being without supply for a number of days.
Customers can check the ESB powercheck page and the @ESBNetworks for live updates on the developing situation.
[ESB Powercheck]
Any fallen wires or emergency situations should be reported to ESB Networks at 1850 372 999.
Meanwhile, the Met Éireann ‘red alert’ has now been lifted, and the latest update from the weather service says we can expect it to be “cold, windy and showery today, but not as stormy as yesterday”.
“The showers will continue to be heavy and wintry leading to falls of snow on occasions. There’ll be widespread frost this morning with icy stretches on untreated roads.”
However, we haven’s seen the last of the storms. More heavy rain is expected tomorrow “as heavy rain spreads northwards along with very strong and blustery southeasterly gales”.
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Organ donation should be compulsary. Yes, people will disagree and say it’s against their rights blah blah blah…… but after a few years people would get over it and it would be the norm. Imagine having no waiting lists.. How many people would be saved?
Yes these people with their human rights blah blah blah and their wanting to own their own bodies blah blah and their wanting the basic courtesy of being asked before they get recycled blah blah blah.
More seriously though, wouldn’t that require legally forcing families to turn off life support before they’re ready if there’s somebody waiting for an organ? And conversely people being arbitrarily “allowed” to live longer if there happens to be nobody waiting for an organ?
Wow..
For the most part Neal, life support would be switched off anyway as the person would have been declared brain dead. This is a clinical decision. In most centres in Ireland it’s a very specific set of circumstances where a patients organs are donated.. I. E. a person has to be brain stem dead, on a ventilator, in an ICU. The organs will always be used so there would be no unnecessary prolongation of life support. As someone who has been involved in numerous organ harvesting cases, forced organ donation could potentially be a very disturbing and traumatic situation.
I lost my best friend when she was 23. The decision to donate her organs was taken without hesitation. About a year later her mum got a letter from a girl who had received her kidneys. She told us how her life had changed so much since and it really was wonderful to hear. In the depths of the darkness it was a sliver of sunshine.
There really is no reason not to donate.
An opt-out system seems like the best idea to me. It would at least make people think about donation. There are many reasons why people are against donating their organs and forcing them to do it is morally wrong but complacency is equally wrong. The chance to save the lives of others at the end of our own lives is something we should reflect on and consciously decide on. It would also make it easier for families who may not want to be faced with the decision at a time of grieving.
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