'You won't manage without water': Longford councillor critical of 'unacceptable service'

A councillor has called on Longford County Council to engage with Uisce Éireann seeking an urgent update and remedial action regarding ongoing and recurring water supply and pressure issues affecting residents in the Tonywarden, Leitrim, Ferskil and Ballymacroley area.

Fine Gael Councillor Pádraig McNamara submitted a motion at last week's meeting of Granard Municipal District.

He said residents in these areas are 'continuously experiencing low water pressure, intermittent supply and outages, which are having a significant impact on households and farms'.

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Cllr McNamara outlined the problem is an ongoing issue that has been going on for the past eight or nine years.

"I think it's totally unacceptable because people are without water for five to seven days.

"You can appreciate that if you don't have water and you have kids or you have animals and you have stuff to look after, you'll manage without electricity but you won't manage without water.

"It's something that should be fixed and Uisce Éireann have been engaged numerous times to deal with this situation but it just seems to be falling on deaf ears."

Cllr McNamara, who has requested quarterly meetings with Uisce Éireann,  said the problem is temporarily fixed and then everything is fine but 'the next thing it's out [again]'.

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"It was out about nine times last year and that is not for a half a day or a day or anything else.

"When you contact Uisce Éireann the reply you get is 'It'll be fixed tomorrow before 4pm'.

"You contact them at 4pm the next day and they will know better after 6pm and the next thing is you're getting a call the next day to say it might be fixed by 10am tomorrow and this is ongoing the whole time.

"It's not unacceptable, it needs to be addressed.

"I know it's a bigger issue than us here sitting around this table but it needs to be stepped up and sent up the line and it needs to be addressed.

"I'm sure there are other areas in Longford, I see Esker pop. up a good bit in relation to water outages as well there."

The motion was seconded by Cllr Turlough McGovern who supported the proposal.

"It's very unfair on the people, for us as public representatives, it's being thrown back at us 'Where do we go'.

"It's a relief to Longford County Council, they haven't got their hands on it anymore, when they had you could go to somebody and ask where do we go next.

"As Councillor McNamara says you send an email in and they come back tomorrow evening or the next evening."

Local Fine Gael Cllr Colin Dalton also said he would like to support the motion.

"The most important thing we need is to have a contact and a person we can talk to and hopefully they will come and meet us as a group because it's very important for us to know what is their long-term plan as regards maintenance of these lines, we need to know."

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The water utility were contacted for a response and a spokeswoman said Uisce Éireann is aware of ongoing water supply and pressure issues affecting customers in the Tonywarden, Leitrim, Ferskil and Ballymacroley area. 

“Our priority is always to provide a safe, secure, and reliable water supply, and we understand the impact that intermittent supply and low pressure are having on homes and businesses,” she said.

“The current supply issues are linked to how the network is laid out. 

“As water leaves the reservoir, it splits in two—one line serving Tonywarden and the other serving Granard town. 

“At times of higher demand in the town area, this can affect supply and pressure for customers on the Tonywarden line.”

The spokeswoman said to address this, Uisce Éireann has planned upgrade works for the area, including the delivery of a new watermain to improve supply resilience. “These projects are progressing through the required design, procurement and regulatory stages. 

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“While timelines remain subject to these statutory processes, works are currently expected to begin later this year, and every effort is being made to bring this forward where possible.

“Customers can sign up to our free text alert service to receive real‑time updates on disruptions in their area. For general queries, our Customer Care Centre is available 24/7 on 1800 278 278, and full-service information is available at www.water.ie.