BED and breakfast operators with no water in their tanks for guests’ showers deserve a vastly improved service from Uisce Eireann (Irish Water), according to Cllr Danny Collins.
The Independent Ireland councillor expressed his anger at a meeting of the West Cork Municipal District over the latest problems with Bantry’s water supply.
He said the problem wasn’t confined to just B&B operators or businesses in the town centre. ‘Farmers up to nearly Glengarriff had no water in their tanks either,’ he said.
‘One guesthouse in Ballylickey was full and the owner had no water for showers, or to make breakfast in the morning,’ said Cllr Collins, who pointed out that the problems occurred at 8am, 9am, 10am and 11am in the day, and were not confined to a restricted overnight usage, as billed by Uisce Éireann. ‘We need answers from someone because we are not getting any answers from Uisce Éireann,’ said Cllr Collins, who complained he was getting the run-around from the water utility company.
Cllr Collins requested that a letter be sent to Uisce Éireann requesting a meeting to discuss the high level of water outages throughout the greater Bantry area. ‘Some of the outages were scheduled but others were not’ said Cllr Collins, who is calling for ‘better communication’ from the company.
The councillor expressed his personal frustration in dealing with operatives, including one company man who told him that Durrus doesn’t exist. ‘That was very frustrating for me, and the businesses in Durrus who had no water, and I had to hang up on him in the end,’ said Danny Collins.
The councillor said he subsequently rang a local contact who made enquiries and came back to him with a solution within a couple of hours.
Cllr Deirdre Kelly (FF) said emergency issues should be dealt with in a more professional manner by the water utilities company. Even if an alert text went out to users, she said, they would at least be kept up-to-date.
As a councillor, she said she, too, is experiencing some difficulty trying to get a progress report on a wastewater issue. ‘We need a schedule of work so that at least we can give people a timeline, but, at the moment, no one is answerable,’ she stated.
Cllr Noel O’Donovan questioned if there has been any engagement by Uisce Éireann. He said some towns, like Dunmanway, are starved of new development because of issues with the wastewater treatment plant.
‘Shannonvale is another area that is mentioned year after year. To see the dirty water on the community green is a disgrace,’ said Cllr O’Donovan. He is also of the opinion that the local authority needs to meet Uisce Éireann representatives as soon as possible.
‘All we are looking for is some kind of system whereby people can get definitive answers to their questions,’ said Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind).
Since last September, Uisce Éireann has taken over full responsibility for water services so the local authority no longer has any engagement. What engagement the Council does have is through the county engineering section.
