Concerns not addressed by Uisce Éireann response

Dundalk councillor Emma Coffey has criticised Uisce Éireann for failing to answer her questions about alarms sounding at Dundalk’s Waste Water Treatment Plant at Soldier’s Point.

The Fianna Fail councillor had initially raised the issue at the March meeting of Louth County Council, saying that she had been notified of an alarm going off at the plant by a concerned resident. She had highlighted her frustration in attempting to get a response from Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water.

She told the Dundalk Municipal District meeting on Tuesday night that she still hasn’t received a response and that the response issued to the media hadn’t addressed any of her concerns or queries.

The company had said that it was investigating the complaints from residents and councillors and that the fire and intruder alarms at the plant are regularly serviced. It also added that there were no operational issues or compliance failures at the plant.

However, Cllr Coffey said the re-response didn’t address the issues she had raised.

“It was a statement, but it didn’t actually address the issues I raised, namely why an alarm was going off for the full weekend. It might have gone off for 15 minutes, it might have paused for five minutes - but then it restarted.”

“Nothing was done,” she complained, adding that she still doesn’t know if this was an intruder alarm, a fire alarm or an operational alarm.

“They said there was no operational issue but I don’t know if that is in reference to my grievance.”

She noted that Louth County Council has no legal obligations regarding the monitoring of the plant as that’s the responsibility of Irish Water, If there was a failure at the plant have a big impact.

She wanted to know who Uisce Éireann is accountable to, noting that the ESB is accountable to the Regulatory Commission.

Senior Engineer Mark Johnson said that the Council no longer any role in regards to the plant and has to go through the helpline same as the councillors. it would