Cllr Caroline O’Reilly has called for urgent Ministerial, regulatory and public health intervention following serious revelations regarding the Dunshaughlin Water Treatment Plant, just one day after a public meeting on the continuing problems with the town’s water supply. “For months I have been raising brown and orange water, heavy sediment, repeated outages, pressure problems and concerns around iron in the Dunshaughlin supply.
“I have sought testing information, raised questions about iron levels and the boreholes supplying the town, repeatedly contacted Uisce Éireann, asked for senior engagement and raised concerns about whether the infrastructure has the capacity and resilience for the level of development planned for Dunshaughlin.
“We held a public meeting this week because residents are genuinely worried. To then read in the national media today that chlorine treatment and safety alarms at the treatment plant were reportedly disabled for months is completely unacceptable. Why are residents and their elected representatives finding this out through the news?”
Cllr O’Reilly said she has also repeatedly made clear that the discolouration is not confined to The Willows, with reports from other areas including the Bush and Lagore. “I have continuously pursued this and, quite frankly, I feel like I am banging my head off a brick wall. Residents have told me they feel exactly the same.
“I have sent questions, followed up, asked for meetings and sought clear explanations. Too often I either don’t get the answers I have asked for or receive a response that doesn’t actually address the issue.
“Uisce Éireann has consistently failed to properly engage with me and other elected representatives. I am expected to answer to the people I represent, but I cannot give them information that Uisce Éireann will not provide.
“We should not be finding out information of this seriousness through a national newspaper after months of asking questions.” Cllr O’Reilly previously raised the ongoing problems directly with Minister for Housing
James Browne after becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of answers. “I asked the Minister to intervene precisely because we were getting nowhere with Uisce Éireann, but I was told that he could not become involved in its operational matters.
“That response was not good enough then and, given what has now emerged, it certainly is not good enough now. “We cannot have Uisce Éireann blaming a ‘third party’, other agencies pointing back to Uisce Éireann and the Minister saying he cannot intervene. Who, then, is actually accountable?”
Cllr O’Reilly has written again to Minister Browne and the relevant regulatory and public health authorities and is seeking an urgent meeting involving Uisce Éireann, the EPA, Meath County Council and public health representatives.
“We need everyone around one table, one set of facts and clear accountability. I want to know when the chlorine treatment and safety alarms were disabled, for how long, who knew, why the EPA was not informed, whether water continued to enter the public supply and what the microbiological and chemical testing shows.
“Most importantly, residents need an independent answer to one very simple question – is their water safe? Dunshaughlin is growing rapidly and we also need a proper investigation into the continuing discolouration and sediment and a long-term assessment of the capacity
and resilience of its water supply.
“I have pursued this through every avenue available to me and I will continue to do so. But residents cannot keep being sent around in circles while everyone points somewhere else. This has gone on for long enough. Dunshaughlin needs answers, accountability and a clear plan to fix this.”
