Tipperary council to request Irish Water officials to attend public meeting of local authority

A request for a face-to-face public meeting between Irish Water officials and Tipperary County Council’s 40 elected members is being made in the wake of a heated debate at the local authority’s monthly meeting over a motion of no confidence in the utility tabled by Sinn Féin councillors.

Council CEO Joe MacGrath agreed to calls from several councillors to request Irish Water representatives to meet the council in the presence of the media where public representatives can question the utility’s officials on a range of grievances from poor communication to the county’s creaking water and waste water infrastructure following a summer of Boil Water Notices and water supply disruptions.

He did so after councillors voted by a large majority of 27 to 12 in favour of a Fine Gael proposed amendment to the motion of no confidence in Irish Water that was tabled at by Sinn Féin’s Cllr David Dunne and Cllr Tony Black.

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The amendment, proposed by Fine Gael Cllr Marie Murphy, stated councillors recognised the challenges presented to Irish Water in providing quality drinking water and wastewater services to its Tipperary customers.

The amendment, seconded by Fianna Fáil Cllr Siobhán Ambrose, went on to call on Irish Water to accelerate the delivery of capital investment in the county to ensure security of water supply, to safeguard environmental protection and to provide for County Development Plan objectives over the next six years.

As the amendment was approved, the motion of no confidence that sparked the debate in the first place wasn’t put to a vote.

After the result of the vote was announced, Cllr Dunne told those who voted in favour of the amendment: “Ye can’t say anything (about Irish Water) again. Put up or shut up.”

Earlier as he proposed the motion of no confidence in Irish Water, Cllr Dunne recalled that he agreed to take this motion off the table when he previously proposed it at a council meeting two years ago.

“We waited to see if things would improve but unfortunately things have deteriorated at an alarming rate. All summer we were dealing with (water) issues in Carrick-on-Suir, Coalbrook, Fethard. Issues with water are ongoing in Clonmel.

“I have asked on numerous occasions to bring Irish Water before us to speak to us directly in front of the press at a special meeting so that they can be held accountable. We have no option but to put this motion down. It’s not a reflection on the council’s (water services) staff. If anything, it’s a vote of confidence in ye.”

He said there was not a council meeting that went by without councillors raising problems with water and waste water services in their area whether it was connections, back yard services or water bills owed by customers that they couldn’t get resolved.

Cllr Dunne also criticised what he regarded as a “fortune” being spent on changing the utility’s name to Uisce Éireann.

He and Cllr Black received support for their stance from Clonmel Workers & Unemployment Action Group Cllr Pat English, who told the meeting the utility was “in no way accountable” to the people of county Tipperary and had “shown contempt for businesses and residents alike”.

Independents Cllr Richie Molloy and Cllr Annemarie Ryan were other south Tipperary councillors who spoke in favour of the motion of no confidence.

But Cllr Marie Murphy had a different perspective. She said she fully understood the concerns of Sinn Féin councillors and noted there probably wasn’t a councillor in the chamber who hasn’t been extremely frustrated by the service Irish Water provided.

But she totally disagreed that the only way to achieve a proper water service was to hand responsibility for it back to the local authorities.

She reminded councillors that they were “in much the same boat” nine years ago when local authorities were still responsible for water services.

“The primary issue with water infrastructure has been a lack of investment by successive Governments over decades,” he argued.

Cllr Ambrose pointed out that €8.8 billion investment in water services was planned over the next five years and she was very confident the improvements to Clonmel’s water services infrastructure will be included in that.

She argued that whoever was in charge of water and waste water infrastructure and services, whether it was Irish Water or the councils, were not going to quicken that investment.

The council’s Director of Water Services Eamon Lonergan responded that council management held important meetings with Irish Water every two months and had forged a “strong working relationship” with the utility’s officials.

He reported that investment commitments Irish Water made two years ago were being delivered on the ground. He gave the examples of €8-€9m investment for a well at Monroe near Clonmel and €2m to upgrade the Glenary Water Supply Scheme as projects that were being fast-tracked thanks to the council working constructively with Irish Water.

He said the county’s water infrastructure network was very old and he understood the challenges Irish Water faced but he also understood councillors’ frustration and council officials could air those frustrations at their meetings with the utility’s representatives.

CEO Joe MacGrath noted some of the key issues councillors had with Irish Water related to communications rather than works on the ground. He said that issue should be directly raised at the council’s upcoming workshops with Irish Water.

In relation to the motion of no confidence, Mr MacGrath asked councillors to consider what would the council’s relationship be with Irish Water if they passed a motion of no confidence and condemned the entire organisation at this point and time.

He urged councillors to “consider carefully” what they were voting on and be “very, very cautious” about voting no confidence in Irish Water.

He said this county needed tens of millions of euros invested to address the problems with the water infrastructure in Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel and west Tipperary. He didn’t know how he could continue to make a case for investment in the county’s water services if the council took this road.

Cllr Dunne insisted he and Cllr Black didn’t table the motion of no confidence to “make headlines” or “cause a row”. He believed it was the only way they could hold Irish Water accountable. He had listened intently to what the CEO said and the one word that was missing was “accountability”.

Mr MacGrath was accountable to the council’s 40 public representatives but where was Irish Water held accountable. He called for a public meeting of the council with Irish Water to address councillors’ concerns in front of the press.

After the vote on Cllr Murphy’s amendment, Cllr Micheál Anglim also pressed for the council to request an “in-person” meeting with Irish Water officials. Mr MacGrath responded that he was quite happy to make that request.