Aontú Councillor Deirdre Lawless has issued a strong rebuke of Electric Ireland following confirmation that the costs associated with repairing the damage from Storm Éowyn will likely be passed on to consumers – despite the company’s staggering profits in recent years.
Electric Ireland’s parent company, the ESB Group, has reported after-tax profits in the high hundreds of millions consistently for years. In 2023 alone, the group earned €868 million, with €706 million more recorded in 2024. The years prior showed a similar trend: €847 million in 2022, and €679 million in 2021. And yet, when Storm Éowyn battered the national grid, leaving thousands without electricity, it was revealed by ESB CEO Paddy Hayes that repair costs would run into the tens of millions — a mere fraction of those annual profits.
Now, instead of absorbing that cost, the company appears set on offloading it onto ordinary Irish households.
Constituents have been in touch only within the last two weeks claiming their electricity bills have suddenly appeared to have gone up since the storm.
“This move is as cynical as it is unjust,” said Cllr Lawless. “When you’ve racked up profits in the hundreds of millions year after year, there is no moral or economic case to ask the public to foot the bill for storm repairs. This isn’t a case of a company under pressure — it’s a case of a company that simply doesn’t want to dip into its own overflowing reserves.”
But Cllr Lawless highlighted an even deeper concern — one that speaks to Electric Ireland’s long-term priorities.
“If these profits had been reinvested in fortifying our grid and storm-proofing our energy infrastructure, the damage caused by Storm Éowyn might have been significantly reduced — or even prevented altogether,” she said. “Instead, we have a national electricity network that’s still shockingly vulnerable, particularly for elderly, vulnerable and rural households. That’s not just poor planning — that’s neglect.”
She continued, “People have effectively been wronged on the double. First, they were left in the cold and dark as the fragile grid collapsed under pressure. Now, they’re being handed the bill — from a company that has had every opportunity to future-proof the system but chose instead to focus on profits.”
” Myself and Deputy Paul Lawless, have worked closely with affected constituents since the storm — helping families, elderly residents and business owners navigate the aftermath. We have been in ongoing contact with Electric Ireland, Eir, and the Government, pushing for answers and action.
“We’ve seen the impact of these outages first-hand,” Cllr Lawless said. “We’ve helped people who were left without heat or light for days, in freezing conditions. What we haven’t seen is a convincing explanation from Electric Ireland as to why this critical infrastructure has been allowed to remain so exposed — even as profits soared.”
Cllr Lawless concluded, “It’s time for Electric Ireland to make a choice. Do they exist to serve the public interest — or to protect profit margins at all costs? Because from where I’m standing, the priority of storm-proofing Ireland’s grid appears to be nowhere near their radar. And that’s not just a missed opportunity — it’s a betrayal of public trust.”
“If hundreds of millions in annual profit isn’t enough to invest in modernising and storm-proofing our grid, then what is? What astronomical level of profit do they deem sufficient before taking seriously the urgent need to upgrade Ireland’s electric network to the standard expected in any modern Western country?”
