Defective waste waters systems

FOUR Sligo towns Tubbercurry, Ballymote, Collooney and Grange are among the locations identified in the latest EPA report on urban waste water treatment as failing to effectively process effluent.

Commenting on this failure, Independent MEP Marian Harkin said: “It could mean that the Irish government will be taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission for its failure to rectify plants throughout the country including Tubbercurry.

“Over the years the billions received from the EU Cohesion Fund which were provided for investment throughout the country were instead disproportionately spent in upgrading waste water systems in major cities such as Dublin and Cork. The result of this can now be seen in Sligo where four towns feature in the recent EPA report as having defective waste water treatment.”

A bad planning system involving up to 80 decisions before starting works and a failure by government to provide the necessary resources to County Councils had created the circumstances in which sewage problems such as those in Sligo existed, Marian Harkin maintained.

“Funds which should have been spent in the BMW region were diverted elsewhere and contributed to the lack of vital infrastructure investment in counties like Sligo,” she said.

“I have had many years of experience dealing with the failure to protect the waters of counties like Sligo, a situation which is highly likely to continue unless a much better method of planning and completing treatment plants is devised, adequately financed, and implemented efficiently by Irish Water.”