Water upgrade works in Glanmire aim to support 'up to 800 households'

Water works are set to start in Sallybrook in Glanmire in the coming months, Uisce Éireann confirmed this week, which will help support up to 800 households.

In questions submitted to the utility body before a meeting with councillors, Fianna Fáil councillor Margaret McDonnell said that Sallybrook, Richmond Rise, Mineville and the wider Glanmire area residents in the area “have endured a prolonged and increasingly unacceptable pattern of water outages, burst mains and so-called “unscheduled works” over the past year.” 

 Ms McDonnell said that there have also been issues with communication. 

She added that the repeated outages are now becoming a significant quality-of-life issue for local residents and are also raising wider strategic concerns regarding the resilience and capacity of the existing water infrastructure in the area.

“A recently circulated community position statement regarding a proposed large-scale development adjacent to Richmond Rise highlighted serious concerns regarding existing infrastructure capacity, specifically referencing the repeated water outages experienced in Sallybrook and the absence of confirmed timelines for meaningful network upgrades," she said.

“Residents have been consistently advised during outage events that the local system is already operating under severe pressure.” 

She asked Uisce Éireann the underlying cause of the repeated burst mains and outages affecting Sallybrook and surrounding areas. A spokesperson said: “A combination of the age of infrastructure and the growth and development to date in the Sallybrook area has most likely contributed to the recent frequency of outages in the area.” 

She asked what specific remedial or capital investment works are planned for the area, and the spokesperson said: “As part of the leakage reduction programme and accelerated growth programme there are 4.6km of new mains and upsized/rehab mains planned to address ongoing network issues and to support growth and development within the Sallybrook area.” 

They said that works are expected to commence in the Sallybrook area in Q3 2026 and will continue into early 2027.

Ms McDonnell asked about capacity for new developments and was told that the 4.6km upgrade works in the Sallybrook area will support up to 800 households, and there is another growth & development project which will support a further 800 households in Glanmire/Dunkettle area.

The Uisce Éireann spokesperson continued: “There has been ongoing engagement with Cork City Council’s planners, including the preparation of Infrastructure Assessments for zoned sites and draft zoned sites in areas within the city.

“We have advised the planners that we are happy to review zoned sites and provide information about water services as needed to support the plan making process.”