DAVID REDDY,
Madam, - Last weekend's storm made life a bit of a misery for many because of prolonged electricity failure. Great praise is due to the ESB repair crews for their efforts to restore normality, but could have a lot of this disruption been avoided in the first place? I believe the answer is yes.
Power cuts are usually caused by damage to overhead lines, from trees falling on the lines or by the timber poles actually snapping in strong winds. Sometimes the weight of a tree leaning on cables results in an adjacent pole breaking. Several Christmases ago a whole line of timber poles on an exposed headland in Cork were flattened. Damage to power lines on steel pylons rare.
For decades our continental colleagues have ceased to use timber poles to distribute low voltage electricity and telephone lines. Instead they use much stronger and more durable reinforced concrete poles that seldom yield to the mightiest of gales. These are immediately obvious when driving out of any of the ferry ports in north-west France and continue in evidence right across Europe. Rail travellers on the Continent will also notice the concrete poles used to carry the cabling for electric trains. Many of these concrete posts give excellent service in weather conditions far more testing than what we experience here.
Meteorologists warn us that with global warming, storms like last weekend's will become more frequent and more violent. Surely we should learn from proven experience elsewhere.
Ireland is fortunate in having some of the best raw materials for these concrete posts, as well as the expertise to design and manufacture them. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID REDDY, Durham Road, Dublin 4.