Louth mum vents after only finding out about Boil Water Notice when son took ill

A frustrated local mum has revealed how she only found out about a Boil Water Notice issued to her village after her son became very ill - weeks after the notice had been declared.

Celine Carroll (39) who lives in Gylde View in Tallanstown said she only became aware of the notice after speaking to a neighbour who had herself only found out after contacting the council.

"My son took sick in August - he was vomitting - and it's not like him; as he's never sick," explained the mum-of-two. "I put it down to the water myself, eventually."

She added: "Some residents knew about it (the Boil Water Notice) but, unless you had looked online, you'd never have known."

For the past six months Celine and her family have been living under the notice, which means she has to boil all water for cooking, and even for brushing her teeth.

The knock-on impact of the notice has also meant that due to ongoing works to rectify the problem with safe chlorine levels, the water supply to the area has been shut off at regular intervals - however, Celine says that she has only ever received one leaflet from Irish Water to inform them of an impending shut-off.

It means that, at times, she is even afraid to put on her central heating - in case the water is already shut-off and she could end up locking or damaging her home heating system.

"It hit a nerve just before Christmas," added a clearly frustrated Celine. "It had been going on for six months (since the end of July) and only just before Christmas did we receive a flyer from them (Irish Water)."

Money-wise, Celine says it has put an added burden on the family finances. She explains that she has not received any bottled water and has been forced to purchase bottles of water on a weekly basis.

She estimates that she spends an extra €30 per week on water and that her electricity bill has also increased by approximately €20 per week (due to having to boil all water). Meaning the family has been hit with an added expense of around €200 per month since the end of the summer.

At the end of her tether, Celine eventually decided to put on the home heating this week - even though the water had been shut off due to 'ice-pigging' works - due to the bitingly cold temperatures.

On Friday afternoon, Irish Water revealed that 'ice-pigging' works - in which an ice slush is pumped into a water main and forced along the inside to clean the pipe by removing sediment and other unwanted deposits - had been completed and monitoring will be carried out next week to verify adequate chlorine levels.

However, the Boil Water Notice remains in place for around 600 homes in the affected areas of Tallanstown.

Irish Water say they will "consult with the Health Service Executive to lift the Boil Water Notice for those remaining on the notice as quickly and as safely as possible."