#AranIslands - A senator has called on the Defence Forces to step in to assist the residents of two Aran Islands who are expected to be without power for several days since an outage on Friday morning (5 August).
According to Galway Bay FM, a fault with undersea cables could be to blame for the loss of electricity on Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr – which has also forced a temporary shutdown of the former's Irish Water treatment plant.
However, the ESB says that with poor weather forecast today (Sunday 7 August), it will be this week at the earliest before a backup power source can be transported to the islands, and many days before repairs are carried out.
Sinn Fein Senator Trevor O’ Clochartaigh said such a long period without electricity would pose significant difficulties for residents in the Galway Bay islands, and asked for the Defence Forces to provide for their basic needs over the coming days.
The outage is yet another setback for Aran Islands residents, who still face uncertainty over the status of their plane service to the mainland, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.