'Saudi Arabia has a better water supply' than this town in Tipperary

A man who is experiencing regular outages in Clonmel’s water supply said he had no problems with the water supply during all the time he lived in Saudi Arabia, Cllr Pat English told a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

Cllr English said that regular disruptions to the town’s supply meant that the residents of one area had contacted Uisce Éireann 16 times since Christmas about outages. And he knew of one woman who had to go to the local swimming pool to get ready for a wedding, after she discovered that she had no water in her home.

Cllr English stated that the Borough District should request the Government to restore the upkeep and maintenance of public water and sewerage services to local authorities, and to make water a constitutional right by holding a referendum.

He said that people were getting “a Third World service” since Uisce Éireann had taken over responsibility for the water supply. The service was way better when it was operated by the local authorities.

When there were problems you had to ring a call centre in Cork and the water was mostly off at weekends.

District Mayor Richie Molloy said that “the whole Irish Water operation has been a disaster from start to finish,” and it would have to be rectified by the government of the day. It was a very poor network and there were constant interruptions to the supply.

When pipes were replaced in one area the pressure increased and this resulted in problems in another area.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said there was a legal agreement in place and the decision to hand over the responsibility for the supply wouldn’t be reversed any time soon.

She said she had been directly impacted by problems. She knew of people who got up in the morning and had no water when they were preparing for Holy Communions, birthday celebrations and weddings.

Cllr Ambrose said that communication by Uisce Éireann continued to be a big issue and that added to people’s anger.

The company couldn’t give notice about a burst pipe but they needed to inform people when planned works were taking place.

Cllr Niall Dennehy agreed that the service should be handed back to the local authorities and for the same price that Uisce Éireann paid for it, which was zero.

He said that President Michael D Higgins had got out of bed on Christmas Day in 2013 to sign the legislation that led to the establishment of Irish Water, and to him that suggested “underhandedness”.

In a written reply to Cllr English’s request, District Administrator Carol Creighton said that if the council members were in agreement the District would contact Darragh O’Brien, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage with the request that the upkeep and maintenance of public water and sewerage services would be handed back to local authorities.