It's taking longer to get Tipperary's wastewater breakdowns repaired, council meeting told

A councillor highlighted at Tipperary County Council’s April meeting that waste water service breakdowns can take between five to seven days to fix since Uisce Éireann assumed full control of the management of these services last year.

Independent Cllr Andy Moloney also complained that Uisce Éireann engaged a contractor to travel from Listowel in Kerry to empty a blocked wastewater main in county Tipperary instead of using the knowledge of local Council staff.

And he pointed out that the contractors Uisce Eireann send out to deal with wastewater problems are more expensive. “I am led to believe it costs €400 to bring them on site,” he told Council management.

The Poulmucka councillor made his complaints as he tabled a motion urging the Council to enter into talks with Uisce Éireann to take back control of local disruptions to services to achieve a better response to public demands and a more efficient service.

He argued small repair jobs should continue to be carried out by Council staff as they have the knowledge of where the pipes are located. It would also be more cost effective.

In the case of the contractor brought from Listowel to empty a blocked sewerage main in Tipperary, he asked why Uisce Éireann couldn’t pay county council outdoor staff to do the work. “I think it’s pure ludicrous,” he declared.

He claimed that if you notified the Council’s outdoor staff about a waste water issue, they would have the job done before you got home to log the problem on Uisce Éireann's system.

“I am not looking for anything special, I am just looking to use the local knowledge,” he pleaded.

Cllr Moloney clarified to The Nationalist he hasn’t experienced much delays in fixing disruptions to drinking water services because former Council staff who worked in this area and transferred to Irish Wate r are still working locally.

Cllr Moloney, meanwhile, pointed out at the Council meeting the public still don’t understand the Council no longer has anything to do with water services.

Councillors were now treated the very same as a private person calling in a problem to Uisce Éireann and the public were getting frustrated with them because of this.

Several south Tipperary councillors threw their full support behind the motion. Fellow Independent Cllr Máirín McGrath complained that morale was very low among those Council staff who had worked in water services as they have been just pushed aside even though they have the local knowledge.

Her assessment that Uisce Éireann was “not fit for purpose” was echoed by Sinn Féin Cllr David Dunne who has called at many past council meetings for the disbandment of the utility.

“This is Groundhog Day. We have been saying this for a long, long time but nothing is getting better, it’s getting worse,” he declared.

Not only was Uisce Eireann not fit for purpose, it “couldn’t run a bath”, he declared.

The Carrick-on-Suir councillor complained that it was so difficult for councillors to communicate with Uisce Éireann that they had to use X (formerly Twitter) to contact the utility about water problems in their communities. “It’s a disgrace in this day and age that we don’t have a public contact number (for Uisce Éireann) for weekends.”

He concluded with this appeal: “Let’s have a referendum on public ownership (of water services) and put the services back in the hands of the Council.”

WUAG Cllr Pat English agreed. He said the Council workers on the ground in his hometown of Clonmel knew where every stopcock was located in the water and waste water system but now all that knowledge was going to be lost. He described Uisce Éireann as a “quango" that shouldn’t have been set up in the first place”.

Council CEO Joe MacGrath responded that he appreciated the level of frustration among councillors and promised to convey those frustrations highlighted at the meeting to Uisce Éireann.

However, he explained the Council couldn’t enter into talks to take back control over local water and waste water services disruptions as it was not legally possible to do it at this point and time.

“I think that we need to be clear. Since last September the day-to-day management of water services is under the management and control of Uisce Éireann,” Mr MacGrath stressed.

The debate concluded with Fine Gael Cllr Michael Fitzgerald mischieviously asking Cllr Dunne what Sinn Féin proposed to do about Uisce Éireann if it got into government after the General Election.

“I am sure there is some proposal laid out in the manifesto of your party for Irish Water going forward. Do you know,” he asked.

Cllr Dunne asked Cathaoirleach Cllr Ger Darcy could he respond? When told he couldn’t, he said: “I will abide by the rules,” and said no more.