Government working hard to support Northern Ireland following Storm Eowyn – Benn

The UK Government is working hard to meet requests for assistance from the devolved Stormont Executive in the wake of Storm Eowyn, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has said.

It came as the managing director of Northern Ireland’s energy network provider, NIE Networks, said the company is trying to work out how to set up a “compensatory scheme” for those affected by power cuts.

Approximately 50,000 customers remain without electricity across Northern Ireland, with power restored to 235,000 properties after the damage caused to the network by Friday’s storm.

Specialist engineers have arrived from England to help repair the network, but some customers have been told it may be February 3 before their supply is restored.

More than 50 schools in Northern Ireland remained closed on Monday.

Ten of those were forced to close because of damage sustained to buildings, while the remainder did not have electricity supply.

Around 150 schools were damaged in the storm.

Mr Benn visited NIE Network headquarters in Belfast on Monday where he was updated on efforts to restore power to households.

He said: “We have got a way to go yet but we have been working very hard as the UK Government to meet the requests for support from the Northern Ireland Executive.

“In these circumstances my job is to make sure that we meet those needs.

“The engineers that have come over through the mutual support arrangements, the helicopters that are now here, and as other requests come in we will do our darndest to meet them.

“This is showing the strength of the United Kingdom working together to look after each other in the wake of this once-in-a-generation storm.”

He added: “The system has worked. We have responded to requests for help and it shows the mutual aid which is the foundation of our country.”

Mr Benn said he had raised the issue of goodwill payments with NIE Networks.

He said: “They said they were going to consider that and come back with an answer.

“I recognise people are facing a lot of costs.”

The NI Secretary said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had told Northern Ireland’s First and deputy First Ministers Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little Pengelly that the Government would “give Northern Ireland all the support it needed”.

He added: “This is a practical crisis and what people need is engineers, helicopters, bottled water, generators, these are the things that make a difference to people on the ground while they are waiting for their lives to get back together.”

Speaking earlier in the day, Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly said they had pressed NIE officials on the payment issue during a meeting at Stormont.

Updating reporters afterwards inside Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Ms O’Neill said: “We’ve asked NIE to look at the issue of compensation, because we think that it is important that people are supported through these difficult days.”

She added: “These companies make significant profits every year. They should make sure they give that goodwill payment now at a time of need.”

Ms Little-Pengelly said: “We understand that that is what is happening with Scottish companies, energy companies in Scotland in relation to the same storm.

“We see no reason why this shouldn’t happen here.

“So we are urging NIE to go away, consider that and come back to us very quickly with an indication of what they want to do, because we know that those people who are without electricity and water are suffering real hardship.”

She added: “I think it is the right thing to do for NIE to step up and to do a goodwill payment and not wait for those further discussions in due course with the Utility Regulator or elsewhere.

“They can do a goodwill payment, is our understanding. So that’s what we’re urging them to do.”

Derek Hynes, managing director of NIE Networks, said Northern Ireland was in a different regulatory regime than other parts of the UK.

But he told the BBC: “We completely understand the Government’s perspective on this.

“Over the course of today, me and my team have been talking to the Utility Regulator, to the Department for the Economy.

“We are trying to figure out how it is in Northern Ireland we can establish a similar sort of compensatory scheme to reflect the hardship that people are suffering and going through.

“Like all things, it is not exactly straightforward.

“I think in principle we are all agreed we will go on a process so we can figure out how to do it.

“And ultimately put something in place over the next period of time.”

Mr Hynes said the company is using “every resource available to us to try to restore power to households and businesses as quickly as we possibly can”.

He added: “Additional engineers are already working on the network with more arriving today and over the course of the week.

“We have also secured additional helicopters to speed up our assessment process and additional generators to support the most vulnerable in the community.”