Nearly 8,000 homes and businesses in Galway without power since this morning

Nearly 8,000 homes and businesses have been without power since approximately 9.40am this morning. File picture

The Galway Chamber has urged the ESB to urgently restore power to thousands of homes and businesses who have been without power in and around the city since this morning.

Nearly 8,000 homes and business have been without power since approximately 9.40am this morning.

Initially, ESB crews had expected to restore power by 11am, but, according to the latest update on the ESB power check app, the issue is now unlikely to be resolved before 5pm this evening.

In a statement, Galway Chamber called on the ESB to "prioritise remedying this large scale outage in Galway."

"Employers need certainty of supply so whatever steps need to be taken to ensure this is repaired ASAP should be implemented, along with preventative measures to avoid future outages," the said.

Responding to the Chamber via Twitter, the ESB said: "We are working to restore this fault as quickly and safely as possible, Again apologies for any inconvenience."

The ESB says is is working to repair the supply issue.

Most of the homes and businesses affected are in the suburbs of Ballybane, Ballybrit, Mervue and other areas on the east side of Galway city.

The outages have also caused traffic lights to stop working, leading to significant congestion around the city. 

Road operations crews from Galway City Council are currently attending areas affected by traffic lights outages.

Traffic lights are down along the Tuam Road N6, in Riverside, around the Lisboan industrial estate, and along the N6/N59 junction on the western side of the Quincentennial Bridge.

Traffic lights outside of the entrance to University Hospital Galway are also out of order.

Galway City Council has advised all road users "to exercise caution, and be aware of pedestrians trying to cross" in affected areas.