Dealing with Uisce Éireann is like “dealing with Del Boy and Rodney”, Dundalk MD meeting is told

Dealing with Irish Water/Uisce Éireann is like “dealing with Del Boy and Rodney” Tuesday’s meeting of Dundalk Municipal District heard.

The comments were made by Sinn Fein Councillor Kevin Meenan at the meetin which saw councillors unanimously take issue with how the company is communicating with the public and elected representatives.

The debate started with Independent councillor Meave Yore asking if Louth County Councillor had a service level agreement with Irish Water/Uisce Éireann regarding reinstatement works .

“I keep receiving replies for reinstatement works, but no definitive date for when they’re going to be done. For example, the Rock Road from the Old Golf Links Road Junction to Sandy Lane. I got an email to say they were taking ownership of that but they gave no date.

“That’s a very busy road with the St Francis School and I want that done before the children go back to school,” councillor Yore said.

Fianna Fail councillor Sean Kelly said it was a “diabolical situation that we’re facing here in Dundalk with the water.”

He went on to say: “The response from Irish Water has been deplorable. They’re not even bothering now to tell us when there’s brown water happening in the area.

“We’ve got instances where brown water is happening for 48-72 hours in one go, and it’s frankly speaking not good enough.

“I know they’ve reached out to us and said that they were going to organise a meeting for us in Cavan Hill Water Treatment Plant, but they need to do a lot more in their communications.

“I think we, as an MD and as a council, need to look at our own options and probably work with councils around the country. Because control of it being taken away from the county council has been an unmitigated disaster and we need to get control back as quickly as possible.

“That means we need to lobby national government as well to make sure that happens and if there needs to be a cross council approach with other councils around the country, that’s what we need to do.

“But I think it’s important to note in the minutes that we are not happy with what’s been happening in the Dundalk area.”

Sinn Fein councillor Antoin Watters was in agreement, saying:

“We raised this before with Irish Water, but let’s be honest, we need to get onto Darragh O’Brien (Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage) about it, and we need to say it’s not good enough.

“They’re inviting us to Cavan Hill (water treatment plant) to show us how they test the water. We went to this last year, and it made no difference.

“It’s communication. There’s one area in Ann Street Court without water now for three or four weeks and I’ve got on to them and it’s been escalated to this department and that department but it does nothing.

“Our hands are tied. We’re going in with our hands behind our back trying to do anything with Irish Water.”

Fine Gael Councillor Robert Nash said he didn’t think it was fair for the council to say it’s nothing to do with them when the Irish Water staff are sitting in the County Hall.

“There has to be some conversation and collaboration with us as elected members.

“There was a burst last week on Mount Avenue and they were blaming it for the whole water in Dundalk being brown,” he added.

Sinn Fein’s Kevin Meenan was also in agreement saying: “We were sent pictures in our office of some of the water in Pearse Park, you’d think it came straight from the brewery, it was pure brown, it’s a joke and it’s been raised now for years and as I said before it’s like dealing with Del Boy and Rodney.

“And they’re telling us it’s safe to drink. If you had somebody coming here from America and handed them a pint of brown water and said it was safe to drink, they’d look at you.”

Independent councillor Ciaran Fisher said he feared it would start to impact on local businesses, submitting that:

“From an economic perspective, if you have somebody here who is thinking of building a factory that would involve water in any capacity.

“We’re building ourselves as being on an economic corridor between Dublin and Belfast and then you turn on a tap and see water that wouldn’t be out of place in a third world country coming out of it; it doesn’t bode well for us.”