Thousands of householders and businesses in county Mayo remain without power today after a major breakdown in the ESB power supply overnight.
The Erris area of North Mayo is the worst area affected. 10,000 customers were without a supply from midnight last night. some customers have had the power restored today.
A spokesperson for the ESB told Midwest News that a major issue occurred at the Cumgill 110KV station in county Sligo at midnight last night and that is the cause of the major outage. The spokesperson said that crews have been repairing the fault all night and work is ongoing throughout the day today and it is hoped to have the power restored to most areas by 4pm this afternoon,.
Areas of Belmullet, Bangor Erris, Bellacorrick and Crossmolina are the worst affected.
However, about 200 households in the Ballyhaunis area are also without a supply and the estimated tome for restoration there is about 1pm. Areas of Ardnaree in Ballina were without a supply for a time, but that has been restored.
The ESB spokesperson is advising those effected to check the ESB powercheck website for updates.
Erris based Fine Gael councillor Gerry Coyle says it's a disaster for many elderly and sick people without electricity since last night. He is questioning how a fault in any one line can have such an impact and asks is there no alternative if a line goes down.
He has been speaking to Midwest News Editor Teresa O'Malley...