Protesters leave council building

Protesters who had been staging a sit-in at the headquarters of Limerick County Council left the building at around 6pm yesterday.

The five protesters, who were objecting to a new river-sourced water supply in the Pallaskenry area of West Limerick, began their protest after they attended a full meeting of the county council on Monday.

Limerick County Council secured a High Court injunction on Tuesday night against the protesters and a full hearing of the case is due to be heard in the court tomorrow.

Earlier, two of the protesters, who have been staging the sit-in since Monday afternoon, could not get back in when they left to get food yesterday.

The High Court granted the council a temporary injunction against four named individuals on Tuesday night.

The protesters are members of the Bleach Lough Retention Group.

They want a water supply from a local lake near Pallaskenry retained.

However, Limerick County Council insist the supply is not adequate to meet the increasing needs of the community and want to replace it with a new supply coming from the River Deel.

The council recently closed off some of the Bleach Lough supply and replaced it with the new supply. However, pipe-laying work to complete the switch has been stopped for some months.

The council denies that the water supply from the River Deel is polluted.

Dan Foley, a leading member of the retention group, left the council building yesterday to get tablets and to bring in food.

However he and another protester, Mrs Breeda Clarke who also left to bring in food, were not allowed to return to join three other demonstrators.

Mr Foley said they would prepare for a High Court hearing scheduled for next Friday.

He said: “We may seek a postponement on Friday to give us more time to prepare our case.”

He complained that the council had cut off water taps they had been using on Tuesday night.

“We are not looking for any luxuries,” he said.