Cllr says Irish Water at fault for slow progress on Ballydesmond scheme
A FURIOUS Cork County Councillor has laid the blame for the lack of progress in addressing what he described as “the appalling state” of the water supply in Ballydesmond firmly at the feet of Irish Water.
Cllr Bernard Moynihan (FF) was speaking after a senior council official revealed the authority and Irish Water were still in negotiations to buy sites for new reservoirs in Kiskeam and Ballydesmond that will be linked to the Ballinatona regional water supply scheme.
This despite the fact that in January of this year Irish Water pledged €1.6 million in funding to address the water supply problems in the area.
In his report to the northern area committee county engineer David Keane wrote that the contract for the reservoir sites can not proceed until the reservoir sites had been procured.
Speaking at the November committee meeting, Cllr Timmy Collins asked for a progress update in relation to the purchase of land for the reservoirs.
“I understand that everything is ready to go once the land for the reservoirs has been purchased. Once that happens, it should be just a case of going through planning and I would not anticipate any problems there,” said Cllr Collins.
Cllr Moynihan said he was “very concerned” about the situation in Ballydesmond, repeating a previous comment he had made that the water there was “not even fit for cattle.”
“This has been going on for a long time and is a serious issue for local residents. Yet, as I understand it, no progress has been made on purchasing the land for these reservoirs even though funding has been ringfenced and the design process completed,” said Cllr Moynihan.
“It is not Cork County Council that is to blame here, it is my understanding that a difficulty with Irish Water is holding up the whole project,” he fumed.
Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) echoed Cllr Moynihan’s call for clarity on the issue, saying that he feared it could be 2018 before any further progress is made on the scheme.
“This is a serious issue and I think that an urgent request to Irish Water in regard to progress on this would be very much welcomed,” he said.
Senior council official Tom Comerford said sites for the two reservoirs had been identified and it was his understanding that officials from the council and Irish Water were negotiating with landowners for their purchase.
Relying to a query from Cllr Collins, Mr Comerford said he would need to contact Irish Water to find out how advanced there negotiations were.
“We all accept that the water in Ballydesmond is poor and we are moving as quickly as we can to replace the source to the Ballinatona scheme,” he added.