Cork City Council meeting with Uisce Éireann about water quality to be held in private

A special meeting of Cork City Council and senior management at Uisce Éireann to discuss ongoing issues with water quality in the city will be held in committee, with no media or members of the public present.

The meeting, which will take place in City Hall at 5pm on Monday, April 7, comes after the cancellation of a planned meeting last week to discuss the ongoing issue of undrinkable, discoloured water which has been impacting the city for almost three years.

That meeting had initially been formatted by Uisce Éireann as a workshop, before Cork City Council cancelled it in favour of a special meeting, which Uisce Éireann then declined to attend, saying it would not be possible to reformat the workshop for a meeting.

It is understood that the upcoming meeting was agreed to by Uisce Éireann only after councillors agreed it would take place in committee.

Fianna Fáil councillor Terry Shannon, who is his party’s whip in City Hall, said that while he regretted the meeting would not be taking place in public, he could understand why it would be held in committee.

“You would have some members of council grandstanding and thinking they were running a star chamber, but the truth is we want to get results for the people of the city, and we want to get answers about the future of water services in the city,” Mr Shannon said.

“We want to see how the problems facing our water supply can be solved, and holding a public lynching is not the way to do that.”

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan said he was disappointed that the meeting would be held in committee, but he understood the reasoning behind the decision.

“Whether it’s in public or in committee won’t deter elected representatives from expressing their displeasure at the status of water and wastewater services in the city at the moment,” he said.

Sinn Féin councillor Michelle Gould said the decision was “shocking”.

“The public definitely deserves transparency when it comes to something as crucial as drinking water,” she said.

Ted Tynan, Workers’ Party councillor, said he condemned the decision to hold the meeting in committee, adding that it showed “contempt” for the public.

“They’re supposed to be a public utility company and they have a terrible record of failing in their duty to deliver clean drinking water to the people of our city, they have failed 100% on that issue,” he said.

According to a notice issued on Thursday afternoon by Cork City Council to the Lord Mayor and councillors, and seen by The Echo, Uisce Éireann has “committed to answering questions in the meeting, [but] they have requested that a list of issues for discussion be provided in advance to enable them to prepare properly”.

An initial list of issues, drawn up by council officials, includes replacement of infrastructure, problems with water outages, and discolouration, testing for manganese and other substances, and communication strategies.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said he was concerned about Uisce Éireann setting terms for meetings.

“An issue with the briefings they’re offering is that it is Uisce Éireann setting the agenda for their own scrutiny. That’s a no-no,” he said.