Mayo village's battle for clean water supply is raised in Dáil
Residents stand alongside members of the Cleragh-Lisduff water committee in 2022.
A public petition for a clean public water supply for the villages of Cleragh, near Kiltimagh, was considered at a recent Dáil committee hearing.
On Thursday September 19, the Dáil Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsman agreed that there was a need to seek a progress report on the matter from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The petition was written by Tom Carney on behalf of the approximately 20 households that are impacted. The residents are aged between 12 months and 88 years.
“We have never had a drinking water supply in our village. We started back in 2012 working with Mayo Co Council. Fast forward, finally getting funding for a water supply to all homes in 2019. Since then we have hit road blocks with Mayo Co Council and [Uisce Éireann]. All funding is in place and all families had contributed €1,500 to €3,000 each [from the] household.
“We provided all maps, worked with approved contractors, all to no avail. Uisce Éireann and [the] council don’t get along and we will never get a water supply. We have petitioned every political figure in Mayo, to no avail again."
Mr Carney said he had "at least 60 emails and letters" to the council and Uisce Éireann.
"I have three very young children and buying bottled water has my family struggling day in day out. It is all the same for the village.”
The chairperson said the committee would ask the Minister for a progress report "just to keep track of what seems to be an urgent situation".
“We also note that Uisce Éireann has confirmed that the design is finished and it is waiting on a connection agreement or an offer being issued subject to the confirmation from Mayo Co Council as to whether the funding application will be successful.
“Meanwhile, the Housing Minister has told us that, in terms of the additional funding, the local authority wrote to the Department on May 17 on funding for the water connection project and the Department has met with the local authority on this. The progress, he says, is expected to conclude in the coming weeks.
