Longford Councillor accuses Irish Water of 'ignoring' concerns of people
Paul Ross accused Uisce Éireann following frequent water outages in Ballymahon Municipal District
Frequent water outages in the Ballymahon Municipal area are damaging local businesses and causing major inconvenience and hardship for thousands of householders and Uisce Éireann seem to be 'ignoring the concerns' of local people.
That is the view of Fine Gael Councillor Paul Ross who has described one stretch of pipe which regularly bursts between Carrickedmond and Doory Church as the 'worst in the country'.
He believes the wider area which stretches from Ballymahon, Forgney, Ardagh to Edgeworthstown, has 'just gone to crisis point'.
Cllr Ross has stated the recurring outages are unacceptable and the thousands of people in south county Longford who are impacted deserve an adequate service.
The Fine Gael representative stated it is crazy that residents are almost dealing with bursts on a daily basis.
"We are at a stage in the summer where we have had eight bursts in 11 days and it's just unbelievable the situation we are in.
“People are so frustrated.
"I mean, it's just gone beyond a joke at this stage.”
There were two outages on Tuesday alone with the first occuring at 7am in Legan and the secondburst happening in Carrickedmond.
There was another outage on Monday and multiple burst last week.
"You have farmers who have cattle out that have no water, you have businesses such as hairdressers, restaurants, cafes who can't function.
"You have householders who are waking up regularly who can't put on a wash, it's just gone beyond a joke.
"We have been shouting about this for the past number of years, local politicians, we have all been making representations on it but we are making absolutely no headway.
"Uisce Éireann just seem to be ignoring the concerns of the people in the Ballymahon area and this is a huge area stretching from Ballymahon, Forgney back as far as Edgeworthstown.
"We are a first world country and we have no continuity of water supply in the Ballymahon area and we are just asking Uisce Éireann to get off their hands and do something."
Cllr Ross stated they all know the water mains needs to be replaced between Carrickboy and Ballymahon and improvement works that were due to take place last year should have happened.
"That is where all the bursts are happening.
"I drove along a section of road there between Carrickedmond Church and Gerety's garage and I spotted 11 bursts on that section.
"I think there have been about 25 bursts since Christmas, it's just as I say gone to crisis point."
"All the WhatsApp groups I'm on now, it's a running joke, but it's not a joke and it's utterly serious.
" I mean, there are families there with newborn kids looking to have baths and showers who can't do it," he added.
"I suppose we are asking the question, why has this gone so bad and it looks like Irish Water have just ignored it?
"We have heard of a proposed upgrade, but we're in the dark as to when that's going to happen."
Cllr Ross said they were told it was going to happen last year but that never transpired and he is being inundated with calls from local people.
"We have no idea when it's going to start and people are ringing up wondering why this isn't being worked on, but politicians have no answers.
"There are a couple of acute points between Carrickedmond Church and Doory Cross is one section where there are numerous bursts. And then at the head of the Clonard Road on the N55, it's another very weak point where there's numerous bursts.
There have been two in the last week there."
Cllr Ross said Uisce Éireann 'needs to be accountable' for the situation.
"With the advent of Uisce Éireann, there's an increased supply of water to that area.
"But now it's the residents in that area who supported Center Parcs who seem to be discommoded by Uisce Éireann's inability to upgrade the network."