WATER PIPE NOT REPLACED DESPITE 2013 FUNDING PLEDGE

A local councillor claims he has documentation from 2013, signed by then-Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan, granting funding for the replacement of a water pipe from Kildorrery village to Ballyvisteen on the Limerick Road, but the work was never carried out.

Speaking at Monday’s council meeting, Cllr Frank O’Flynn again called for the pipe to be replaced. Numerous water outages were reported in Kildorrery this month again, following years of problems with water supply in the village. This week alone saw two separate issues in the village with water disruptions.

Cllr O’Flynn also called for an update on the reservoir.

The issue with the ‘ Ballyvisteen’ pipe is compounded by the fact that the reservoir can only hold enough water to service the village for approximately two hours. The reservoir is leaking significantly, and has been an issue for years.

In 2015, plans were brought to a meeting by councillors for a new reservoir by Irish Water at a cost of €200,000. However, Irish Water did not bring forward a plan to service the ‘archaic’ mains pipe network. One without the other would increase pressure on the pipes, and at the time Cllr O’Flynn likened the solution to “throwing water into a hole if we’re not fixing problematic pipes.”

Cllr Noel McCarthy pointed out that the works would need to be done in tandem.

Someone, somewhere listened, as in November 2017 it seemed Irish Water were due to fix the pipes, and planning was in for a new tower. In 2018, a colony of bats at the site of the new reservoir were allegedly holding up construction, and it would be built late in 2019. Then it was said it would be built in 2020. The most recent update from Irish Water stated that they were working ‘with Cork County Council’ and that ‘A plan is yet to be defined but should be drafted in the near future.’

Again, Cork County Council said they would support writing a letter to Irish Water, and advised that separately, the county engineer would make a representation to the services body.

(Pic: Marian Roche) RIGHT: Planning permission notice for the Kildorrery Water Reservoir from November 2017. Over four years later, the village continues to be beset with frequent outages.