Councillors hit out at Uisce Éireann response to Moate water outage

Local councillors have hit out at delays by Uisce Éireann in resolving a burst water main that left much of Moate and other areas of Westmeath without water on Sunday and for parts of Monday

At Monday's meeting of Westmeath County Council, councillors complained that they were unable to reach anyone in Uisce Éireann to alert them to the burst main that was causing the problem.

“I rang at half past eight. I could get no-one until eventually I got someone in Cork,” said Cllr Johnnie Penrose, saying that for all that time, the burst pipe was pumping water onto someone’s land.

He said that thanks were due to the county council staff who stepped into the breach, and came out and switched off the water.

Cllr Penrose said he understood that the Uisce Éireann staff member who would have had responsibility to have the problem sorted was actually away on holidays.

“Should they not have a standby ready to take charge of that when they’re going away?” he asked, stating that it wasn’t until 7pm that someone from Uisce Éireann attended and repaired the damage.

“It left people without water the whole day,” he said.

Cllr Tom Farrell had similar complaints: “I was in a daze, with complaints all day long,” he said, before going to describe the effect it had on the entire community: “There were businesses in Moate under pressure; there were schools last night that didn’t know whether to stay open or close today," he said.

He contended that when someone is going to be away, there should be another Uisce Éireann staff member on standby in case of problems arising.