Boil water notice for thousands of households across Munster 

Residents in Glanmire, Glounthaune, Little Island, Carrigtwohill and surrounding areas are being hit with the notice. Picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

Thousands of households across Cork, Waterford and Tipperary will be hit with boil water notices arising from a dispute involving workers in seven local authority areas nationwide.

Pickets by Unite trade union members working in water services are planned for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Cork City and county, Tipperary, Waterford, South Dublin, Carlow and Kerry. Plans for action by workers in the Fingal council area have been called off after promises of engagement by the council.

Uisce Éireann announced this evening that just under 21,000 customers of the Glashaboy water treatment plant will be affected by a precautionary boil water notice from 12 midnight on Thursday until further notice as a result of the action being taken by Unite. Customers in Glanmire, Glounthaune, Little Island, Carrigtwohill and surrounding areas are being hit with the notice.

The body said that the boil water notice may run for several days “as we will need time to assess the impacts on the treatment plant and processes post-strike”. 

It added that there may also be some disruption to water services, in particular the speed at which bursts to the water network are repaired.

Boil water notices were in place from midnight on Tuesday night until Friday, in areas of Waterford and Tipperary, including Adamstown, Stradbally, Ballylaneen, Crotty’s Lake, Glenary and Poulavanogue.

Action over engagement 

According to Unite, the action is “due to the continued refusal of local authorities and its representative body, the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) to meaningfully engage with the union over its members’ concerns regarding shortcomings to the ‘Framework for the Future Delivery of Water Services’ document put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission last year.”

The union said the Framework document was rejected overwhelmingly by Unite members employed in water services.

The union wants a commitment that members transferring to Irish Water from local authorities “will retain their public service status, a strengthening of existing commitments regarding protection of local authority workers involved in water services delivery, and a removal of service and age barriers for those wishing to avail of the redundancy option”.

The union is also seeking a date and wording for a referendum “enshrining public ownership and management of Ireland’s water system in the Constitution”.

Uisce Éireann’s head of water operations Margaret Attridge said the organisation’s incident management team has been “stood up” and is working closely with the local authorities affected by the action.

• Updates will be available at the Water Supply Updates section on water.ie, on Twitter @IWCare and the 24-hour helpline on 1800 278 278.