Tipperary woman voices frustration on RTE's Liveline over never-ending Boil Water Notice
The woman called into today’s show to speak about her growing frustrations with water issues in her area over the past few months
A woman living in Tipperary Town has told RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline that she and thousands of others have been living under a boil water notice for 33 weeks.
Terry Jackson contacted the programme after becoming frustrated with the ongoing disruption caused by the notice, which has required residents to buy bottled water from supermarkets for months.
Speaking to Kieran Cuddihy on Tuesday’s programme, Terry said the boil water notice affecting her area began on February 12 and there is still no clear date for when it will be lifted.
“I gave them a call a few weeks later to ask them if there was any end date in sight and they said no there wasn’t and nobody seemed to know what was going on,” she explained.
Terry said she eventually discovered in September that the problem was linked to a borehole which could not be repaired.
She described the impact of having to boil or buy water for such a prolonged period, saying: “We can’t brush our teeth, we can’t wash our fruit and veg, we can’t drink it of course.”
She also highlighted the additional cost of repeatedly boiling water and the physical strain involved in carrying large quantities of bottled water home from the supermarket.
The programme subsequently contacted Uisce Éireann, which said it was progressing a solution as quickly as possible.
A Sinn Féin councillor for the area, Cllr Annemarie Ryan Shiner, called in and spoke about her own experience of living with a boil water notice.
Cllr Ryan Shiner said she is one of around 11,500 people supplied by the Galtee scheme who are currently affected by a boil water notice.
She said that notice has been in place for approximately six weeks.
She described the length of time people in Tipperary Town have been living under their notice as “mind boggling”.
The councillor also told the programme that Uisce Éireann had indicated the notice could potentially be lifted by late October or November, subject to approval from the HSE.
During the discussion, host Kieran Cuddihy noted that there were 52 issues shown on the relevant map for Tipperary, compared with 10 in Waterford.
Cllr Ryan Shiner concluded by saying that the Government needs to introduce legislation that would allow Uisce Éireann to be held accountable for problems within the company.