Leitrim business provides free meals to those still without power a week after storm Darragh

Yesterday, The Blueway Lodge and Leitrim Inn, who almost exactly a year ago this week had their business disrupted by a freak tornado, opened their doors to provide free food to people in the area who are still without power after storm Darragh.

“We know exactly what it is like,” says Adilene Guckian, co-owner of the Leitrim Inn with her sister in Law Karen Guckian.

 “These people that are without power for a week now, they can’t organise themselves for Christmas like the rest of us can, they can’t put up their decorations or go shopping, you know, life is on hold.”

Like Storm Ophelie in 2017, Storm Darragh caused extensive damage to the country's electric infrastructure leaving over 400,000 people without power with areas in Leitrim being some of the last to have power restored in the country.

It has been a busy few days for the staff of the Leitrim Inn with around 300 people coming through their doors each day to avail of the initiative which is co-organised by the ESB which RTE reported yesterday.

“It has just been overwhelming because we had a short span to get ready for a lot of people, we had no indication of how many would come through our doors,” she says.

“We did our very best to provide a top service, like we would with anyone else who would come in and pay. It has been challenging, at the end of the day we are not a huge hotel of anything, we are just a lodge.”

They have, with the help of local suppliers, had to adapt quickly to the swell of business that saw people queueing out into the hallway as they waited to get a seat and a hot meal. “we are not a big kitchen by any means, we would not be dealing with these numbers on a normal day,“ she said.

She adds that the staff has been fantastic, coming in on their days off and picking up extra shifts to help them provide this service to local people who need it.

““People are very grateful and thankful… Your heart would go out to some ladies here with young kids. There was one lady here and I’d say she had five young kids under six or seven and it was tough going on her and they were just delighted to come in and get a nutritious meal and charge up their devices.”

The Lodge is also housing ESB workers and members of their French partners, Enedis, who are working to fix faults in the electricity lines and restore power to homes in the area.

The service won’t be provided over the weekend as the Lodge is fully booked due to a very special visit from one Santa Claus on Saturday and Christmas parties on Sunday. Adilene does not know if they will be asked to run the initiative again next week but says they are willing.

Ironically, earlier this week the Blueway Lodge and Leitrim Inn held an event to thank locals and first responders who helped them when their business was damaged by the tornado a year ago a year ago. Now Adilene says she and Karen are happy to be able to return the favour.  

“We want to thank everyone who has encouraged us and supported us and complimented our food and our staff and we are grateful for their business,” she says.

READ MORE: Leitrim group calls for tighter forest regulations as power outages continue