Emergency call

The ESB chairman, Billy McCann, received a telephone call at home at 1 p.m. on Christmas Day. It was Mary O`Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise. Firstly, she congratulated him on the excellent work his crews were doing in trying to re-connect powerless customers. But steel magnolia that she is, she then asked him for a report on how well geared up the ESB is to deal with emergencies. She had the report within a week.