George Lawlor denounces Irish Water failures and €33,000 hookup fee
George Lawlor criticised Irish Water's management of supply and infrastructure, citing repeated outages, hard water damage, and an onerous €33,000 connection charge for a one-off house. He urged the minister to intervene in what he described as a chaotic company and to restore services and certainty for customers and builders.
He congratulated Ballymini on their success and welcomed them to the public chamber before addressing water services.
He said new reservoir tanks were unveiled last September at the Kilmallock water treatment plant in Ballymorne, County Wexford, which serves about 8,000 customers. Since the tanks were installed there have been 14 separate outages because investment focused on reservoirs while the plant itself was not upgraded.
He reported that White Rock Hill in Wexford Town, which includes over 1,000 homes, suffered its eighth outage so far this year. The local creche bumblebees closed and 42 families were left without childcare, illustrating the knock-on effects of losing water in communities.
He said water supplied from Mayglass Water Treatment Plant was described as being off the scale when it comes to lime content. Around 10,000 customers on that supply face hard water that destroys kettles, showers and washing machines almost annually.
He described a Newtown Road case where a single house was charged €33,000 to connect to the main water supply, despite proximity to the town. He warned developers and approved housing bodies cannot get certainty on connection costs, complicating housing construction and budgets.
He warned a service level agreement with councils was about to end and said Irish Water was abandoning many services previously provided by councils. Backyard services and storage problem repairs are increasingly being left to homeowners rather than being maintained as they were under council provision.
He urged the minister to intervene and put the company back on track, stressing the need to retain local services, upgrade treatment plant infrastructure and provide clear, consistent connection costs for households and builders.
Opening remarks
He congratulated Ballymini on their success and welcomed them to the public chamber before addressing water services.
Reservoir investment without plant upgrades
He said new reservoir tanks were unveiled last September at the Kilmallock water treatment plant in Ballymorne, County Wexford, which serves about 8,000 customers. Since the tanks were installed there have been 14 separate outages because investment focused on reservoirs while the plant itself was not upgraded.
Wexford Town outages and community impact
He reported that White Rock Hill in Wexford Town, which includes over 1,000 homes, suffered its eighth outage so far this year. The local creche bumblebees closed and 42 families were left without childcare, illustrating the knock-on effects of losing water in communities.
Water quality and appliance damage
He said water supplied from Mayglass Water Treatment Plant was described as being off the scale when it comes to lime content. Around 10,000 customers on that supply face hard water that destroys kettles, showers and washing machines almost annually.
Connection charges and housing impact
He described a Newtown Road case where a single house was charged €33,000 to connect to the main water supply, despite proximity to the town. He warned developers and approved housing bodies cannot get certainty on connection costs, complicating housing construction and budgets.
End of service level agreement and local services
He warned a service level agreement with councils was about to end and said Irish Water was abandoning many services previously provided by councils. Backyard services and storage problem repairs are increasingly being left to homeowners rather than being maintained as they were under council provision.
Call for ministerial action
He urged the minister to intervene and put the company back on track, stressing the need to retain local services, upgrade treatment plant infrastructure and provide clear, consistent connection costs for households and builders.
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Transcript
I would like to concur with your words and congratulate Ballymini on their great success and welcome them to the public chamber. Minister, I suppose when we look at Irish water, the word chaos and chaotic could often spring to mind, despite the billions of euro and resources that we have had in this country for quite some time, over the past number of years in particular. Time and time again we see failures of systems. Indeed last September, and I am disappointed that Minister Brown had to leave the chamber, but last September I, along with Minister Brown, attended the unveiling of new reservoir tanks in Kilmallock water treatment plant in Ballymorne in County Wexford. It serves about 8,000 customers and the new tanks were to guarantee supply. Unfortunately since the tanks were installed, we have seen 14 separate outages where Ishka Eran customers have suffered greatly. And the reason for the outages is whilst there was investment in the reservoir tanks, there was no investment in the plant. So every time the plant broke down, the problems reoccurred. So on 14 separate occasions since last September, we have seen serious issues. On White Rock Hill in Wexford Town this week, many of the residents, and indeed there are over 1,000 homes in the area, suffered yet another outage of water. The eighth outage so far this year on White Rock Hill in Wexford Town. The local creche bumblebees had to close its doors and 42 families were left without childcare. Just a knock on impact of what it means to lose water in our communities, and indeed in our homes and our businesses. Every time it happens, the residents report it and every time it occurs, all they are given is a reference number and little or no explanation. They are left to their own devices to try and manage without water in their area. The water that is actually supplied to them in the first place comes from Mayglass Water Treatment Plant, where the water is described as being off the scale when it comes to lime content. Just like my colleague described in Mallow, the hard water is destroying the appliances in the homes of the 10,000 customers that receive water from this water treatment plant, where we see kettles, showers, washing machines destroyed almost on an annual basis as they seek to battle against the hard water. I recently came across a case of a house in the heart of Wexford Town on Newtown Road. The Count Corlea will be familiar with the area where a one-off house was built and the connection fee from Irish Water was €33,000. €33,000 was demanded and had to be given to Irish Water to connect to this one-off house, a few hundred yards from the heart of Wexford Town, to connect to the main water supply. Absolutely no cognizance taken of how many other people can connect to this. The original person getting the connection was charged the full whack of €33,000, a young family building a home for themselves. Of course, we also have a situation here now where we have a service level agreement with councils that is about to come to an end. And already we see Irish Water abandoning much of the services that the councils would have provided back in the day. For instance, backyard services or storage problems that occur in backyards are now being left to the homeowners and the residents and the private individuals on the basis that if it's not a mainline Irish water pipeline, well, tough look, it's your own problem. That has to change and the services that were provided very well by the councils and the council workers over the years must remain in place despite the fact that this service level agreement has gone. We have, we are told, an ambitious programme for housing and yet developers, approved housing bodies and anyone involved in the building of housing will tell you that one of the biggest issues they face is Irish water. They cannot even get certainty as to what they are to pay for the connection and yet they're supposed to construct houses and know what the overall costs will be. Costs are all different to all the private companies. Thank you. Minister, I urge you to intervene in this chaotic company and put it back on track. Now we move to a government.