NOELLE O’CONNELL
CEO of European Movement Ireland
After nearly three weeks, on Wednesday, 12 February, ESB Networks confirmed it had restored electricity to the last remaining customers whose power had been cut by Storm Éowyn.
The record-breaking storm wreaked havoc across the country in late January, inflicting widespread damage and leaving a historic 768,000 customers without electricity, heating or water.
SUPPORT BEHIND THE SCENES
But what does the European Union have to do with a storm in Ireland?
Well, quite a lot actually – many of the power generators that helped to bring life back to normal in communities across the island were mobilised from an EU strategic reserve called rescEU.
In fact, this is just one of many examples where EU policies and initiatives have a positive impact on our daily lives.
Whether it is safeguarding your rights and freedoms as a citizen, protecting the natural environment around you, or providing assistance in extreme weather, you may be surprised to learn the origins of some solutions, which are often provided for with the help of EU policies and funding.
EU CIVIL SUPPORT MECHANISM
During the power outages caused by Storm Éowyn, the Irish government triggered the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. This is the third time Ireland has requested support under the mechanism, with the first time involving the repatriation of Irish citizens from countries such as Peru at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second instance included a request for mpox vaccine supplies in 2022.
In the past, other EU Member States have also activated this mechanism, including Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Czechia and Germany, following the impact of extreme flooding in 2023 and 2024. Another instance of its activation was during the forest fires in Greece and Cyprus in 2023. The mechanism has also been used to funnel supports to countries outside the EU such as Syria and Türkiye where devastating earthquakes caused widespread damage in 2023.
SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS IT?
Established in October 2001, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is an initiative, which allows countries to request emergency assistance in the form of civil protection, disaster response and humanitarian support. It essentially ensures a single, coordinated response to emergency situations, particularly those which have a cross-border nature such as natural disasters, a global pandemic, or supporting the arrival or refugees.
Since 2001, it has been activated over 770 times and in 2024 alone there were 59 activations.
In addition to the 27 EU countries, there are 10 more countries that participated in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine.
Any country in the world can request help from the mechanism. The country must first develop an overview of the initial damage and carry out a needs assessment to identify what assistance is specifically required.
Additionally, the European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP), one element of the mechanism, allows participating states to register specialised assistance they can offer to the pool of emergency capabilities. This can include transport, urban search and rescue, shelter capacities, communication platforms and more.
In the case of Storm Éowyn, Ireland benefited from a strategic EU reserve, titled rescEU, which was established as part of Civil Protection Mechanism. The reserves themselves are hosted in “strategic locations” across 22 Members States and participating states, which can include services from firefighting fleets to emergency shelters. It may also include energy reserves for emergency scenarios.
During Storm Éowyn, 13 power generators were deployed to Ireland from the rescEU reserve. Additionally, the Romanian Air Force offered its assistance to transport them from Poland, where the generators were located, to Ireland. Four more power generators were also offered by Denmark via the ECPP.
SHELTER FROM THE (FUTURE) STORM
Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent, even in temperate climates such as Ireland. We need only cast our minds back to the devastating floods across Cork in 2023.
Last year, 2024, was also the first year where the average global surface air temperatures were above the 1.5ºC threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
Meanwhile, Met Éireann’s climate projections for Ireland’s future indicate that the country will continue to experience warmer weather and that rainfall patterns will change if global greenhouse gases keep rising.
In an unpredictable future, preparedness and joint action is key. The activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is a clear example of EU solidarity in action and could indeed provide further shelter from future storms in Ireland.
European Movement Ireland (EMI) is a not-for-profit, non-political, membership-based organisation. Since 1954, EMI’s mission has been to develop the connection between Ireland and Europe and to achieve greater public understanding of the European Union.
