Louth councillor slams Uisce Éireann over water outage communications

Mid-Louth representative, Cllr Dolores Minogue, has hit out what she described as a “lack of clear and timely communication” from Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water), in relation to a water outage in the Ardee area over the past number of days.

The Fine Gael councillor told the Dundalk Democrat, that since Friday 11 July, several households and businesses in the Ardee area had been left without water. Cllr Minogue said that on Saturday morning, Uisce Éireann issued an update stating that works would be completed by 8am on Sunday, 13th July, with water supply expected to return within 4–5 hours.

“However, this did not happen”, Cllr Minogue added. “After numerous phone calls from both members of the public and myself, a new update was eventually posted at 4:11pm on Sunday, stating that “unplanned maintenance works” were underway from 10:45am on Saturday to 10:00pm on Sunday. This lack of clear and timely communication is simply unacceptable.”

Cllr Minogue continued: “As a local councillor, I tried repeatedly to speak with someone in Uisce Éireann over the weekend and was left on hold for up to 15 minutes at a time — often without getting through. If elected representatives cannot get timely answers, what hope has the general public?

“This outage occurred during some of the hottest days of the year. Vulnerable people — including elderly residents, families with young children, and those with health conditions — were left with no running water and no clear information.”

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The Louth County Councillor added, “I am calling on Uisce Éireann to urgently review their communication protocols and improve their response systems during outages. People deserve better — especially during emergencies. I will continue to pursue this matter and demand answers and improvements on behalf of the community.”