George Lawlor: Calls for Urgent Investment at Kilmallock Water Plant
George Lawlor raised concerns about repeated outages at the Kilmallock Bridge Water Treatment Plant, which serves 11,000 customers in the Wexford area around Ballamorne. He said two treated water storage reservoirs unveiled last October have not prevented at least 16 outages and urged urgent investment in the ageing plant to protect the reservoir works and to avoid problems during the summer tourist season.
The plant, based in Ballamorne, supplies Castle Bridge, Curriclo, Ballamorne, Crossabeg, Glenbrine, Screen and Oilgate. Lawlor emphasised the scale of the problem by noting the number of customers affected across these communities.
Lawlor recalled the unveiling last October of two new treated water storage reservoirs and associated works. He said the programme manager from Ishgairian had promised continuous provision of water, but since October there have been at least 16 outages, pointing to continuing faults inside the treatment plant rather than the new external infrastructure.
Lawlor argued that the plant itself is old and requires major intervention and asked for the relevant minister to be engaged. He warned that without investment the money spent on reservoirs, though welcome, risks being wasted if the treatment plant is not upgraded.
Responding, T-Shark described the area as a beautiful part of the country and said bathing water continues to improve because of additional wastewater capacity. He said he would speak to the minister about wastewater requirements in the South-East, and noted that additional capital for Irish water is being considered and will be pursued where possible.
Lawlor flagged Curriclo in particular as an area that will "explode" in terms of tourism in the summer season, saying the outages are already causing major difficulties. The speech framed the matter as an urgent local infrastructure and public-service issue with immediate seasonal consequences.
Local supply and affected communities
The plant, based in Ballamorne, supplies Castle Bridge, Curriclo, Ballamorne, Crossabeg, Glenbrine, Screen and Oilgate. Lawlor emphasised the scale of the problem by noting the number of customers affected across these communities.
Infrastructure works and outages
Lawlor recalled the unveiling last October of two new treated water storage reservoirs and associated works. He said the programme manager from Ishgairian had promised continuous provision of water, but since October there have been at least 16 outages, pointing to continuing faults inside the treatment plant rather than the new external infrastructure.
Call for investment in the ageing plant
Lawlor argued that the plant itself is old and requires major intervention and asked for the relevant minister to be engaged. He warned that without investment the money spent on reservoirs, though welcome, risks being wasted if the treatment plant is not upgraded.
Government response and next steps
Responding, T-Shark described the area as a beautiful part of the country and said bathing water continues to improve because of additional wastewater capacity. He said he would speak to the minister about wastewater requirements in the South-East, and noted that additional capital for Irish water is being considered and will be pursued where possible.
Local impact and tourism concerns
Lawlor flagged Curriclo in particular as an area that will "explode" in terms of tourism in the summer season, saying the outages are already causing major difficulties. The speech framed the matter as an urgent local infrastructure and public-service issue with immediate seasonal consequences.
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Transcript
I want to raise an issue that affects 11,000 customers in the Wexford area that are served by the Kilmallock Bridge Water Treatment Plant. Based in Ballamorne, it supplies Castle Bridge, Curriclo, Ballamorne, Crossabeg, Glenbrine, Screen and Oilgate. Last October, both myself and Minister Brown attended the unveiling of two new treated water storage reservoirs and associated works. The programme manager from Ishgairian at the time promised a continuous provision of water. Since last October, there have been 16 outages at least on this. The problem is the continuous difficulties in the plant itself. They provided infrastructure outside the plant in the form of reservoirs and improved associated works. But the plant is quite an old plant that requires major intervention. Could I ask you to speak to the relevant minister on this to ensure that the investment required in the plant, that this money spent on the reservoirs, which was most welcome, is not wasted. In an area, as you can imagine, like Curriclo, which will explode in terms of tourism in the summer season, this is causing major difficulties and problems. Thank you, Deputy Lawler. T-Shark, to respond. Beautiful part of the country. And again, our bathing water continues to improve because of the provision of additional wastewater capacity. And I do note that the minister is from sunny South-East as well, and I will talk to him certainly in terms of the wastewater requirements there. Obviously, we are looking at capital for Irish water. There will be additional capital provided, and we will endeavour to try and progress that. Thank you, T-Shark. Deputy Ken O'Flay.