'But for the Limerick farming community, there'd be people dead. All people want is a bloody update'

LIMERICK councillor Liam Galvin received 200 calls in one day and says people are in "dire straits" and running out of food in West Limerick as they battle severe weather conditions. 

"But for the farming community, there'd be people dead because the farming community are bringing supplies to those people."

Cllr Galvin said he's never seen the weather as bad. "There's two feet of snow inside in yards where people cannot access the public road... even to have the public road snow ploughed.

"They're running out of food. They have no water, they have no electricity, they have no heating. This is dire." Cllr Galvin has been contacted for help by multiple people, aged in their 80s, who haven't had power, water or heating for four days. 

He also received a phone call from a man in his nineties this morning who needed to get to hospital and a snow plough was sent there to clear the road.

Cllr Galvin is calling for an emergency number to be set up to ensure the delivery of provisions to people who can't leave their homes.

The Fine Gael councillor added that it would be wrong not to acknowledge the work that the ESB, Limerick City and County Council and Uisce Éireann have done because "they're working in desperate conditions."

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However, Cllr Galvin said he would fault the ESB and Uisce Éireann for not keeping the public and public representatives updated on the situation.

"There are people without information regarding water for the last four days. That's not acceptable in today's world."

He feels that their websites should be updated every twelve hours and said it was "shambolic" how the public have been treated.

Cllr Galvin said he received a couple of hundred phone calls yesterday and could not keep up with the volume of calls. "People are desperate... all they want to know is a bloody update."

Speaking on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, Cllr Galvin said yesterday was the busiest day he's had in 21 years of being in local government. He added that people are distraught and that roads in rural Limerick including Carrigkerry and Templeglantine "haven't seen a snow plough yet."

Cllr Galvin explained that people can't get vehicles out of their driveways onto the public roads as there's still two feet of snow in their yards. He said families need supplies and are running out of food and water. "They have no communication because broadband is down... We're at an emergency crisis here at this stage."

The Abbeyfeale native said he's hoping things will improve today. "We're getting resources from the Transport Infrastructure Ireland. The problem we now have though, clearly, is that the snow is like concrete on top of the ground and I don't think that the snow ploughs are going to have the effect that they should have."

Cllr Galvin added that some areas in Limerick got their power back last night but that other areas haven't yet and are very "isolated."

He also praised the work of Abbeyfeale Search and Rescue who are helping those who are "really stuck for provisions."