Sinn Féin's climate and environment spokesperson, Pa Daly TD, said the disruption caused by Storm Claudia had once again exposed serious shortcomings in Ireland's energy infrastructure. He criticised successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments for failing to act on repeated warnings, which he said had left communities overly exposed and vulnerable.

Daly urged the government to move quickly to strengthen resilience against worsening weather events, calling for upgrades that deliver reliability without unfairly burdening households with rising costs.

He said: "Power outages were experienced by households, local communities and businesses the length and breadth of the country over Friday and into the weekend.

"Fallen trees caused major disruptions to power and to our roads.

"Elsewhere, dramatic flooding took place.

"Once again, the country was thrown into chaos by something that is only going to become more prevalent as time goes on. Storms will continue to grow in scale, frequency and magnitude as the impact of global warming above 1.5 degrees bears down on Ireland and elsewhere.

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"While the ESB downplayed the impact calling it 'modest', that is certainly not how many of the communities who were left devastated by Storm Claudia. There were wide reports of trees and electrical lines falling, cars getting submerged and stuck under bridges in some parts of the country. Officials even warned that entire areas should be avoided.

"This feeling was also not shared by the many elderly, sick and disabled people who were left without light and heat once again.

"After all, power outages are not a rare occurrence in some places. In cities, towns and villages across the country, this is not the first time their power has been cut this year and it certainly won’t be the last.

"For example, in my own constituency of Kerry, the people of Brosna have been left without power more times than many of them can count.

"That is not good enough. Households pay for grid maintenance and upgrade through network charges. These charges increased this year and are set to rise again every year for the next five years.

"While investment in the grid is essential and must be delivered, ordinary people must not be ripped off in the process.

"Apart from the fact that households already carry a disproportionate burden and data centres do not pay their fair share, it is unacceptable that households should have to withstand continual increases in cost for a service that is totally unreliable in certain parts of the country, particularly in rural Ireland.

"The vulnerability of Ireland’s energy infrastructure and our constrained grid lies squarely with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who have ignored repeated warnings combined with report after report which urged them to do more for decades. Now alongside the regional Independents, including the HealyRae brothers, they are set to sit idly by as ordinary people are hammered by the impact of these storms.

"Alongside the urgent steps needed to bring down the cost of energy, the government must ensure that the power will turn on in the first place. Ireland must become more resilient to extreme weather, and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Regional Independents need the plan, will and ambition to make that happen. As of now, it is nowhere to be seen."