CORK County Council is to seek an urgent meeting with Uisce Éireann officials after councillors complained about a number of issues with waste water treatment plants in Dunmanway, Macroom and Carrigaline, with one councillor describing the public utility company like the ‘secret service.’
At last week’s meeting, standing orders were suspended after Cllr Noel O’Donovan (FG) raised the issue of effluent coming from the waste water treatment plant in Dunmanway. He said a video of the pollution taking place had been viewed 12,000 times and was ‘truly shocking.’
‘We need action on this and an urgent meeting with Uisce Eireann’s operation teams is needed. We need to see action on this as we can’t have new developments in Dunmanway, yet tankers are bringing waste into the Dunmanway plant,’ said Cllr O’Donovan.
Cllr Deirdre Kelly (FF) said they have been ‘over and back’ with this issue for a number of years but yet nothing has been done.‘The issues here are the pearl mussel, the over capacity of the waste water treatment plant, the non-compliance and now we have the added complication of an environmental hazard in a SAC (Special Area of Conservation),’ said Cllr Kelly.
Cllr Ted Lucey (FG) concurred with them and said they are having similar issues with the waste water treatment plant in Macroom with effluent charges and foul smells which he said is in urgent need of an upgrade.
‘Uisce Éireann is like a secret service, they are faceless and you cannot get at them. It could be six to eight months before we get an upgrade and that’s not acceptable,’ said Cllr Lucey.
Deputy county mayor Cllr Martin Coughlan (Ind) said those living near the plant in Macroom, including himself, have been forced to close their windows due to foul odours coming from there.
‘This is a huge problem and Uisce Éireann seem to be passing the buck,’ said Cllr Coughlan.
Cllr Seamus McGrath (FF) said they have similar issues with the Shanbally treatment plant near Ringaskiddy and they are hugely frustrated with the communication from Uisce Éireann.
‘It’s a widespread issue and not isolated to just one town,’ said Cllr McGrath.
Cllr Ann Bambury (SD) said she has been contacted by constituents concerned about the quality of water running into Bandon, while Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind) said some farmers in his area were worried about losing their derogation and called on the authorities to revisit cases of lost derogation because the farmers may not be at fault for the poor water quality passing through their land.
Cllr Gillian Coughlan (FF) said this is a public health issue as the Bandon river is a source of public drinking water for a number of towns, while Cllr Alan Coleman (Ind) said Uisce Éireann’s management of an existing treatment plant has to be seriously called into question.
‘Kinsale is a relatively new plant but it is causing constant problems in terms of its management. I sympathise with the people of Dunmanway. We need more dialogue with them.’
Council chief executive Moira Murrell said they had recently met with senior officials from Uisce Éireann in an attempt to align the needs of the County Development Plan to the consultations with them.
Michael Lynch, divisional manager for South Cork, said they updated Uisce Éireann on the Dunmanway incident and that it’s up to them to follow it up.
However, Cllr O’Donovan requested an urgent meeting with officials which the executive said they would ask them and ask them to update them on all the projects across the county. The Council will also write to the Minister for Environment Eamon Ryan to update him on these developments.
