Uisce Éireann response to Cork City Council request for meeting is labelled ‘a disgrace’

A response from Uisce Éireann to a letter sent by Cork City Council requesting that the chief executive would attend a meeting to discuss ongoing water discolouration issues was lambasted as “insulting” and “a disgrace”.

The letter seeking a meeting with Niall Gleeson in early July was sent following a motion proposed by Fine Gael councillor Shane O’Callaghan.

In the response, which was discussed at a meeting of Cork City Council on Monday, an Uisce Éireann official said Uisce Éireann “are not in a position to provide a representative to attend individual council meetings (on a national basis)”.

The letter outlined measures currently being taken by the company in a bid to tackle water discolouration issues in Cork city and stated that Uisce Éireann will “continue to keep all key stakeholders informed of ongoing works”.

Two briefings, the water utility company said, are scheduled to take place in September for elected representatives.

Speaking at Monday evening’s meeting, Mr O’Callaghan said the response was “not good enough”.

“They are not providing a proper level of service in this city and they are answerable to us as representatives of the people of this city and that reply is insulting, in fact, in my opinion,” he continued.

Labour Party councillor John Maher said he felt the response was a “disgrace”.

“Ward after ward after ward people are drinking muck and dirt and these are the people that tell us.

“These are the people that can go online, that can take videos, that can use social media.

“There’s so many other people that can’t, and if we accept this, we’re letting those people down,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan said Uisce Éireann’s level of communication and the level of service delivery “leaves a lot to be desired”, adding, “I think we should be entitled to a better level of engagement from them”.

Councillors agreed to again write to the chief executive, this time including the chair of the board of Uisce Éireann to state their dissatisfaction with the letter and to seek a deeper response.

Separately Solidarity Party - People Before Profit councillor Brian McCarthy tabled a motion which was passed by councillors proposing that the council would demand, “in the strongest possible terms, that Uisce Éireann come forward with serious proposals that will actually resolve the issue permanently and to establish a clear timeline for this work to be done”.

In the response to council, Uisce Éireann stated that it is seeing “a positive trend” in areas that flushing works have taken place to date and that it expects these works to “lead to further improvements in water quality”.

However, in his motion Mr McCarthy claimed that in areas where the pipes were extensively flushed several months ago “problems are now reoccurring”.