“This issue must be rectified urgently” says Imelda Munster
Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster has called on Uisce Éireann to treat the cases of seven households in Cearnóg Brugha who have had ongoing issues with their water supply for four months with a degree of emergency.
“The situation in Cearnóg Brugha is ridiculous” Deputy Munster said. “For three months households only had a trickle of water in their downstairs taps and nothing at all upstairs!”
As it stands, Uisce Éireann say they will not be in a position to address the situation until December, leaving households struggling to cope without water or heating for weeks to come.
“I’ve been chasing up on this issue for weeks on behalf of the residents. Louth County Council and Uisce Éireann have wasted a lot of time passing responsibility between them, but it now appears that Uisce Éireann is responsible for rectifying the problem.
“They carried out a short-term fix in early October, after three months of households enduring the situation, but by the end of that month that had failed, leaving residents back where they started.
“Most of these residents are elderly, though one family has a small baby. “They can’t heat their homes and they can’t bathe or wash clothing.
“In order to use water upstairs residents have to fill buckets with the trickle downstairs and drag them upstairs which is very difficult for elderly people.
“These residents simply cannot wait another month for this matter to be resolved.
“If this is Uisce Éireann’s idea of customer service then God help us. They clearly still have a lot to learn. You can’t leave elderly and vulnerable residents without water or heating for months on end.
Deputy Munster raised their case in the Dáil yesterday, calling on Junior Minister for Housing Kieran O’Donnell to expedite the case and has written to the Minister and Junior Minister for Housing asking that they look at this case and ensure that Irish Water treat it as a matter of urgency.”
