Crews from French power supplier Enedis have joined ESB Networks in their efforts to restore power to homes across Ireland.

Representatives from the French company made the trip to Ireland yesterday to assist in dealing with the impact of Storm Darragh which caused widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure across the country, impacting 395,000 customers its the peak.

There is longstanding cooperation in place with electricity network operators in Ireland, the UK and France in providing such support.

As of 5pm yesterday, approximately 20,000 people still remained without power, however, those in the worst impacted areas in the North West, Midlands and South East were joined by 60 skilled personnel from Enedis.

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James Browne, Minister of State at the Department of Justice with responsibility for International Law, Law Reform and Youth Justice, and H.E. Céline Place, Ambassador of France in Ireland, were also in attendance for the arrival of crews at Rosslare Europort.

Minister Browne said: "The impact of Storm Darragh has been felt right across the country and ESB Networks teams have been working around the clock to restore power to those impacted.

"But given the scale of damage they need support, so I am delighted to be here today to welcome the skilled personnel from their French colleagues Enedis. Last year, ESB Networks travelled to France to assist in the aftermath of Storm Ciarán so it is great to see this reciprocated as part of the longstanding cooperation agreement in place between the electricity network operators."

Nicholas Tarrant, Managing Director of ESB Networks, also welcomed the arrival of the crews from France, stating: "We are delighted to be joined in this effort by our French counterparts Enedis. We have a proud track record of supporting neighbouring countries if requested by electricity network operators following major storm damage.

"Due to the severity and significant scale of the damage following Storm Darragh, some customers could be without power for approximately a week so we hope that this will help us to restore power as soon as possible in those worst affected areas."