Councillors to meet Uisce Eireann over Dunshaughlin water issues

Members of Meath County Council will meet with Uisce Éireann on Friday (18th September) to discuss the ongoing water quality and supply problems affecting residents in Dunshaughlin.

The online briefing will take place this Friday from 2pm to 3pm and will include elected representatives from the area along with representatives from Uisce Éireann’s Asset Operations and Asset Management teams.

The meeting follows ongoing engagement with Uisce Éireann over concerns about discoloured water, water outages and wider questions around water quality in the area.

Cllr O’Reilly said: “I really welcome this meeting. There are a lot of questions that need proper answers and I think it’s important that we get the relevant people around the table.

“People in Dunshaughlin have been dealing with discoloured water on and off for months. We’ve also had outages and understandably people are concerned about what is happening with their water supply.”

Uisce Éireann has confirmed that the briefing will cover recent water quality issues, improvements carried out at the plant and the work being undertaken following issues raised in an EPA audit carried out in May. Daily flushing of the network is also continuing.

Cllr O’Reilly has already submitted an extensive list of questions which she has been advised will be addressed at Friday’s meeting. Residents have also forwarded questions and concerns which will be raised directly with Uisce Éireann.

“I have a fairly extensive list of questions with Uisce Éireann at this stage and I’ve been told these will be answered at the meeting. Residents have also been in touch with their own questions and I’ll be bringing those with me as well.

“I want to understand exactly what has been happening, what has been identified, what has been done so far and what still needs to be done.

“When people turn on their tap and see brown or discoloured water, of course they are going to be concerned. They need clear information about why it is happening and what is being done about it.”

The briefing will include a presentation from Uisce Éireann followed by a question-and-answer session with elected representatives.

“I think the most important thing now is that we use the meeting to get as much information as possible and get answers to the questions people have been asking.

“I’ll update residents afterwards on what we are told and where things go from here,” she said.