RESIDENTS in two privately-owned housing estates in Dunmanway are paying the cost of pumping drinking water into their homes.
Independent Cllr Declan Hurley raised the issue at a Western Committee meeting in County Hall, when he pleaded with Council officials to ‘rescue the residents.’
He claimed the people living at Castle Heights estate, and Togher Village estate near Dunmanway, have to contend with ‘substandard conditions,’ which includes a defunct waste water treatment plant.
He informed the Council that residents have been paying the electricity costs of keeping the pump for drinking water running, as well as waste water treatment costs, for the last three years.
Cllr Hurley said residents want Cork County Council and Irish Water to upgrade both the drinking water and waste water treatment infrastructure.
He acknowledged that Cork County Council has made efforts to address what he described as ‘outstanding issues’ with both developments, but suggested it was unfair of Irish Water not to assist the residents in their search for a remedy.
It has been suggested that the residents should form a legally incorporated management company for the ongoing running and maintenance of the water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. But Cllr Hurley said: ‘They still need support and guidance.’
The divisional county manager said the residents need to agree a plan on how they are going to manage it. Clodagh Henehan said: ‘They seem to believe it would be managed indefinitely by the Council, but we can no longer do that.’
Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) agreed that the residents are in need of assistance and guidance. He said: ‘They really are in no man’s land – any help that the Council can give would be appreciated.’
