Man died when medical equipment cut out after storm, TDs told

A man died after medical technology, including sleep apnoea equipment, stopped working as a result of Storm Éowyn, the Dáil (lower house of Irish parliament) has been told.

Sinn Féin TD for Mayo Rose Conway-Walsh said she was informed of the death by a constituent.

In a separate incident, 20-year-old Kacper Dudek was killed when a tree fell on his car in County Donegal during the morning of the storm, 24 January.

It comes as electricity workers from Northern Ireland join an ongoing repair and restoration operation in the Republic of Ireland.

The impact of the storm was one of the major focuses on the Dáil's first meeting since nominating a taoiseach (Irish prime minister).

Conway-Walsh told the Dáil on Wednesday: "I was on Midwest Radio this morning and I said I have been frightened all week that something was going to happen, that somebody was going to die as a result of this in Mayo.

"I do want to extend my condolences to the man's family in Donegal that lost his life, but very shortly after [the radio appearance], somebody from our own constituency rang me to describe to me how the equipment that his father was using couldn't be used - the mattress, the sleep apnoea, the several other pieces of equipment - they couldn't be [used].

"When he went then to take his father to the doctor, he died in front of him.

"And that is the tragedy of it, and that is how urgent this is."

About 180 workers have travelled across the border immediately after being part of the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) operation to restore power to over 280,000 homes, businesses, and farms in Northern Ireland.

They have joined local ESB crews and other electricity workers who have travelled to the Republic from several European countries.

Storm Éowyn brought record-breaking gusts in excess of 183km/h to the west coast of Ireland.

More than 750,000 customers were left without power in the Republic following the storm.

The figure has since been reduced to thousands, but the final phase of the repair and restoration operation is being hampered by remote locations in the countryside and a high number of one-off rural dwellings.

A spokesman for ESB Networks told BBC News NI: "NIE Networks will be deployed to the most severely impacted border counties, including Cavan, Monaghan and Leitrim to assist with network repair in the coming days."

"The assistance is greatly appreciated by all in ESB Networks, as these crews have themselves worked tirelessly to reconnect homes impacted in Northern Ireland," he added.

NIE Networks has explained that its assistance to ESB Networks includes "engineers, linesmen and utility arborists, as well as machinery and equipment".

The 180 workers are drawn from NIE staff and its contracting partners.

The energy networks in the UK and Ireland have mutual arrangements in place to help during storms.

An NIE Networks spokeswoman said: "We appreciated the support from the rest of the UK during our response to Storm Éowyn and are keen to help other electricity utilities when possible."

The ongoing operation in Ireland is also being assisted by specialist crews from England, Scotland, Wales, Finland, Germany, France, Norway and Austria.

In total, approximately one million customers were left without power across the entire Island of Ireland in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.