Councillors demand action as parts of East Cork face more boil water notices for years

The Whitegate supply – which serves communities in Whitegate, Rostellan, Aghada and parts of Saleen – has been dogged for the last five years by ‘dirty water’ when run-offs from the land get into the supply system.

Furious councillors representing the East Cork area are demanding Irish Water officials appear in front of them to explain what the utility is going to do about a years-long contamination issue with a “Victorian-era water supply”.

Councillors will also demand compensation for an estimated 10,000 customers who are having to buy bottled water on a near daily basis.

The Whitegate supply – which serves communities in Whitegate, Rostellan, Aghada and parts of Saleen – has been dogged for the last five years by ‘dirty water’ when run-offs from the land get into the supply system.

This has regularly led to boil water notices being issued, leaving homes and businesses reliant on bottled water.

At a meeting of the East Cork Municipal District Council, councillors exploded in anger at the latest issuing of a boil water notice and criticised IW for repeatedly failing to provide public representatives with information about the issue.

Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty described the situation as “farcical” adding Irish Water's lack of action is causing huge expense for thousands of people.

He said it is completely unacceptable Irish Water saying it will rectify the issues "by the latter half of 2024" and won unanimous support from colleagues that the utility compensates those affected.

“I cannot underline how angry I am as is every single councillor in this area about this. This is going on for the last five years. We're one of the wealthiest economies in the world, but we’re expecting people to live with Victorian–era supplies,” Fine Gael councillor Susan McCarthy said.

Sinn Féin councillor Danielle Twomey claimed councillors are left in the dark about the issue.

They're stonewalling us. It's so disrespectful to us. They only engage with us when they want planning permission. 

“People should be reimbursed. Water is a basic need and a right,” Independent councillor Mart Linehan-Foley said.

Mr Hegarty pointed out that Irish Water undertook a €1m upgrade of the Whitegate system three years ago “which didn’t do much good.” 

Meanwhile, Independent councillor John Healy said that the village of Leamlara is suffering for a long time with boil water notices because E-Coli is being repeatedly found in a group water scheme there.

“This is going on since 2017 and it needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. The system needs to be updated,” Mr Healy said.

Mr Hegarty agreed with him, pointing out that an upgrade of the scheme was supposed to have been carried out a few years ago “but was then pulled” for some reason he didn’t explain.

He was told that such schemes are still under the remit of the county council, rather than Irish Water. On foot of that information, Mr Hegarty said the municipal district would write to the county engineer, Kevin Morey, to seek an immediate solution “as it is very urgent”.