Wastewater treatment issues in Tipperary a serious problem that won’t go away
‘Irish Water are the single biggest barrier to houses getting built.’ - Cllr Ryan O’Meara
Wastewater treatment facilities continue to be the bane of councillor’s lives as the issue was raised again in the recent Nenagh MD meeting.
Cllr Joe Hannigan brought up the problem in the village of Ballycommon first: “Ballycommon’s wastewater treatment facility is not fit for purpose.
“It has recently been under assessment and it seems that Uisce Eireann have no plans to upgrade it, although they have said to me that they are thinking about it.”
Cllr Seamus Morris joined him on the issue saying, “Planning permission is running out for a number of houses in Ballycommon and we need a new plan to deal with this because we need to be able to allow these houses to be built.”
Cllr Hannigan said “The response we’ve been given by Uisce Eireann should be rejected.
“It’s time for those guys to stop wasting money taking excess sewage to other places that have capacity.”
Cllr Ryan O’Meara was next to comment on the problem: “Irish Water are the single biggest barrier to houses getting built in the area at the moment and the level of response we are getting from them is so frustrating and frankly not acceptable.”
Cllr O’Meara has raised this issue on many occasions previously as the issue is effecting a number of homes getting planning permission or being built in his local area of Cloughjordan, one of the worst impacted areas in Tipperary by waste water treatment difficulties.
Discussions around Irish Water inevitably lead to Irish Water’s controversial water supply project being brought up next.
A serious point of anger for local councillor Seamus Morris, he was the first to speak out on the matter: “We need to meet with the other counties surrounding the lake to come up with a multi-county strategy on how we’re going to stop this from happening.
“The wedding business around Nenagh is huge with the likes of Ashley Park and Cloughjordan House bringing a lot of people and money to the local economy and to local businesses.
“This plan from Irish water could be hugely disruptive to that.
“The lake at Ashley Park is a turlough and when they start taking water up to Dublin they’re going to dry up that lake which will be a significant loss to Ashley Park and will undoubtedly have an impact on the wedding business here.”
Nenagh Municipal Area Cathaoirleach, Cllr Fiona Bonfield agreed that they should try and arrange a meeting with representatives from the other counties bordering Lough Derg where the project will have the most impact and said that she would draft a letter to begin arrangements.