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NI workers join cross-border storm repairs

Kevin Sharkey
BBC News NI Dublin reporter
PA Media 4 workers survey a fallen tree which lies across a black tarmac road. They all wear Hi-Viz jackets and helmets. There backs are to the camera, the man on the far right of the four has on a blue helmet, the other's are white. A white lorry lies, partially hidden, on the other side of the tree.PA Media
ESB workers survey a fallen tree in the Phoenix Park area of Dublin

Electricity workers from Northern Ireland have joined the post Storm Éowyn repair and restoration operation in the Republic of Ireland.

Around 180 workers have travelled across the border immediately after being part of the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) operation to restore power to over 280,000 homes, businesses, and farms in Northern Ireland.

They have joined local ESB crews and other electricity workers who have travelled to the Republic from several European countries.

Storm Éowyn brought record-breaking gusts in excess of 183km/h to the west coast of Ireland.

A van with a platform is elevating two electricians, dressed in Hi-Viz and Helmets. They are working on a brown electricity poll. They are approximately 20 feet in the air. Either side of the poll are tree's. A man in a red helmet and Yellow Hi-Viz stands beside the camera with his back to it.
Repairs to a damaged line in Derrymacash, county Armagh

More than three quarters of a million customers were left without power in the Republic.

The figure has since been reduced to thousands, but the final phase of the repair and restoration operation is being hampered by remote locations in the countryside and a high number of one-off rural dwellings.

A spokesman for ESB Networks told BBC News NI: "NIE Networks will be deployed to the most severely impacted border counties, including Cavan, Monaghan and Leitrim to assist with network repair in the coming days."

"The assistance is greatly appreciated by all in ESB Networks, as these crews have themselves worked tirelessly to reconnect homes impacted in Northern Ireland," he added.

NIE Networks has explained that its assistance to ESB Networks includes "engineers, linesmen and utility arborists, as well as machinery and equipment".

The 180 workers are drawn from NIE staff and its contracting partners.

The energy networks in the UK and Ireland have mutual arrangements in place to help during storms.

An NIE Networks spokeswoman said: "We appreciated the support from the rest of the UK during our response to Storm Éowyn and are keen to help other electricity utilities when possible."

The ongoing operation in Ireland is also being assisted by specialist crews from England, Scotland, Wales, Finland, Germany, France, Norway and Austria.

In total, approximately one million customers were left without power across the entire Island of Ireland in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.