Councillor claims nearest Laois village to Dublin is being neglected

The closest Laois village to Dublin is being neglected over a long running sewerage issue, a Councillor has claimed.

Cllr PJ Kelly says there is a sewerage system capable of dealing with 300 properties in Ballybrittas but only 70 are connected and the others are being excluded from the system.   

“There is a couple of premises in Ballybrittas and every two weeks they have to hire in a company to empty their sewerage systems,” he explained. 

“I brought it up before when there was heavy flooding in August 2021 where sewerage flowed out onto the main Dublin Cork Limerick Road. It flowed out onto the footpath and then onto the public road itself,” he told a meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

He had tabled a motion asking : “That Laois County Council consider the addition of the ten premises (including businesses and dwellings that are close by the Graigavern estate Ballybrittas) to the sewerage system. In doing this it might encourage the connection of the whole village in the near future as the capacity is there to carry all the village.”

In a written response, Assistant Senior Engineer at Water Services Trevor Hennessy said: “Irish Water has confirmed that they are not in a position to fund private connection schemes outside of their normal Connection Developer Services process. Irish Water and Laois County Council would recommend that those ten premises who wish to connect should meet and discuss forming a Group Sewerage Scheme. At present this is the only funding source available.”

According to Cllr Kelly, this issue has been ongoing in Ballybrittas since 1978. “The  closest village in county Laois to Dublin is being neglected,” he said. 

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Cllr Aidan Mullins said he was aware of a development that included a system with greater capacity than what was required had been installed in the village. He noted a dispute had arisen between the developer and the council but he said “surely it could have been resolved by now with so much at stake.” He asked the council what had happened in relation to the dispute.

Cllr Paschal McEvoy offered his support to Cllr Kelly’s motion and said the issue has been going on for years and years. 

“There is no reason why the whole village can’t be connected to it. It makes no sense,” he said.