*Parteen Basin.
UISCE ÉIREANN have failed to honour a long-standing request to address elected members in East Clare to discuss funding shortfalls and plans to extract water from Lough Derg.
For over a decade, plans have been bandied about that a 170km pipeline will be constructed to pump water from Lough Derg to Dublin. This will cost in the region from €4.6bn to €10bn.
Approval in principle to the scheme was given by the Government last year while the National Development Plan published in July allocated €12bn to improve critical water infrastructure.
Following publication of the NDP, Uisce Éireann had outlined its intention to submit planning by the end of 2025 for the pipeline which will start at the Parteen Basin and stretch all the way to the capital. The utility company said up to two percent of the long-term annual average flow of water at Parteen will be used to supply Dublin and surrounding areas with drinking water.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin (FF) has been contacted by the River Shannon Protection Alliance (RSPA) arguing there are multiple economic, social and environmental reasons why the plan should not go ahead.
According to Uisce Éireann, the project has capacity to address supply water needs for up to 50% of the State’s population. The latest update from the commercial semi-state company is that the project is at pre-planning stage.
Further down on the list of Uisce Éireann priorities is a meeting with elected members of the Killaloe Municipal District.
However it is not just Uisce Éireann than have put the East Clare councillors on the backburner as Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) reminded his colleagues. “We’ve had a request for a meeting with Uisce Éireann and also with the Gardaí for the last few months and it is over a year and a half since the Joint Policing Committee was disbanded so we need to meet with local Gardaí”.
Director of Services in the Killaloe MD, Siobhán McNulty advised Cllr Hayes that a meeting between Uisce Éireann was to take place with all county councillors in Áras Contae an Chláir prompting Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) to point out, “they postponed the last time”.
“It was for our own Municipal District I was looking,” Cllr Hayes explained and the Director said the request would be put before them. “Is that with us,’ Cllr Hayes questioned as to whether elected members would be present for the meeting with Uisce Éireann. “It is with the Executive, I can follow up and request,” McNulty clarified.
With the realisation that they would not be kept out of the room, Cllr Hayes stated, “with the extraction of water still planned from Lough Derg and they have this continued lack of engagement with us, we’ve had this ongoing request for a long time”.
McNulty informed councillors of the agenda for the Executive’s meeting, “there is a strategic investment programme being drafted by Clare County Council, that will be the overall blueprint from which funding will be sought to address funding deficiencies”.
Such thinking was welcomed by Cllr Hayes, “I am delighted to hear that, we have been looking for it for a number of years”. He added, “we seem to be the poor relations at times on a national level”.
Cathaoirleach of the Killaloe MD, Cllr Pat Burke (FG) informed Cllr Hayes the Chief Superintendent was due to meet them at Council headquarters prior to the December meeting of the local authority, “are you looking for more,” he asked. “We’ve had a long-standing request for them to come here,” Cllr Hayes replied. “It would be beneficial to meet them here (in Scariff) and strategically discuss issues, other forums are political but this is an opportunity for us”.
