A local councillor has hit out at Uisce Eireann after it said one area didn’t ‘make the cut’ this year for water main upgrades.
Councillor Gerry McMonagle contacted the utility calling for urgent action following a number of bursts in the Pluck, Rossbracken and Manor areas over the past week.
In response to his query, they said Rossbracken did not ‘make the cut’ for inclusion in the 2023 mains rehabilitation programme.
“To say I am flabbergasted at this response would be an understatement,” Cllr McMonagle said.
“How many bursts must there be before Rossbracken will ‘make the Cut’, as Uisce Eireann put it? This is a slap in the mouth to the residents of Rossbracken and Pluck areas who have, on an almost weekly basis, been without water due to burst mains.”
Only a number of weeks ago, he added, Uisce Éirean indicated that Rossbracken would be included in the upcoming Mains Rehabilitation Programme for 2023.
“Now, the best we can expect is that Manorcunningham, Rossbracken and Pluck areas will be included in the 2024 Programme. This is not good enough and I intend to raise this matter at the highest level. The people of these areas have suffered enough over these last few years and could not possibly be expected to put up with these water outages for another twelve months. The sooner we have local accountability for Usice Éireann, the better.”