Concerns voiced over water levels during Puck Fair

A DRY Puck Fair is unthinkable but fears that water will not be flowing as freely as beer at the age-old event next week were voiced yesterday in Killorglin, Co Kerry.

Upwards of 60,000 people are expected to attend the festival and local people are concerned about ongoing water shortages.

Killorglin Fine Gael councillor Johnny (Porridge) O’Connor said he and other local politicians were regularly receiving “ferocious flak” because people were angry over shortages.

“Public water supplies have not kept pace with the rapid development of Killorglin in recent years,” he claimed.

He called for more reservoirs, for improvements to the filtration system and for new sources of water to meet growing demands in the Mid-Kerry area.

Another local councillor, Fianna Fáil’s Michael Cahill, said guesthouses around Killorglin had been hit by water shortages other years during Puck.

“In an area where we’re trying to promote tourism this just isn’t good enough,” he said.

A Kerry County Council spokesman yesterday said recent heavy rain had helped increase reservoir levels and there had been no water switch-offs in Killorglin in the last 10 days.

“Looking at current levels in reservoirs, we don’t foresee any shortages during Puck Fair week, barring unforeseen major breakages,” he added.