Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To paraphrase the famed song for Kilcash, cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan uisce? Water, and the work of Irish Water, is an appalling problem in Clonmel, south Tipperary and all over the country. I welcome to the Gallery Geraldine and Paddy, one of my office staff, who is on to Irish Water continuously. All our staff are on to Irish Water, but it is like writing to the North Pole. The company is totally ineffective and disrespectful. I do not blame the staff in there but the organisation does not have a clue what is going on. We have water outages in Clonmel weekly if not daily. There is also the issue with combined drains the company did not take over and which were not transposed. This situation will have to be changed. I am dealing with houses now where sewage is flowing around them. Irish Water will not touch this issue and neither will the county council, which built these houses to begin with. This is unfair.

The whole entity of Irish Water-Uisce Éireann is an abject failure and will have to be tackled sooner rather than later because it is impossible for people and public representatives to engage with the company. It is frustrating for everyone. It is not good enough. A Third World country would have better water services than we do in Clonmel.

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