Damaged fences and a dangerous tree – my battles with ESB

No longer stock-proof: John Heney's damaged fence

John Heney

February 07 2023 02:30 AM

I have always enjoyed a good working relationship with ESB frontline staff. So when work began on the upgrading of a three-phase line running through my farm last June, I removed all my cattle from the fields involved, to make life easier for them.

But on returning to my farm two days later after a short break, I was shocked. I was greeted that Saturday evening by mayhem: straining posts broken, boundary fences damaged, electric fences broken and left lying on the ground — all resulting in my farm being no longer stock-proof.

This amounted to a serious breach of the ESB’s Code of Practice in relation to access to land, which says the “ESB staff and contractors will take reasonable steps to ensure that land (or premises) is left in as good (or better) state than when ESB staff or contractors arrived”.

The damage had not been noticed until my return, as everything appeared normal in the fields I had moved my stock onto.

Given the danger of my stock escaping onto the public road (and causing an accident), I immediately set about several hours of temporary repair work.

Of course, damage can always occur in the workplace. While ESB officials did check that the new line was safe, it appears no effort was made to check the state of my farm before they left.

It was the following Monday morning before I could contact the ESB’s contractors who, to be fair, were deeply apologetic and sent someone over immediately to do remedial work — but it was then far too late.

Another unrelated incident at the same time really opened my eyes on how the management of ESB Networks operates.

A mature tree growing on a laneway began leaning dangerously and threatened to fall on a boundary wall belonging to a member of my family.

A tree surgeon agreed that the likely cause of the tree becoming unstable was damage to its root system caused by the erection of an ESB pole less than a metre from it. He also felt that the removal by the ESB of branches at the pole side of the tree aggravated the situation.

A local ESB Networks staff member I spoke with maintained that the problem had nothing to do with ESB Networks, but he did agree to tell the officials in the Enniscorthy office that I wished to discuss the issue with them.

Despite this, and repeated phone calls to the ESB Networks Help Centre (which usually involved a 40-minute wait), no one contacted me.

I emailed the Enniscorthy Office and also sent them a registered letter requesting a meeting, but again to no avail. More than seven months later, I am still waiting for a response from ESB Networks.

John Heney farms in Kilfeackle, Co Tipperary

When contacted by the Farming Independent, ESB Networks replied: “ESB Networks works closely with farming communities and values the long-standing relationships and cooperation with individual farmers as we build and maintain Ireland’s electricity network. We are sorry to hear of the apparent delays in response to the two issues raised by the customer and we will be in contact directly to address any concerns.”