'Without infrastructure rural Ireland will die'- cllr
Fine Gael councillor for Callan-Thomastown in Co. Kilkenny, Michael Doyle, has said that "rural Ireland will die" if the government does not fund Uisce Éireann to a "satisfactory level".
The councillor told Agriland, that towns and villages in rural Ireland cannot build housing developments because of a lack of waste water infrastructure.
"If people can't live in small towns, the shop, the pub, everything that's there is just going to die," he said.
"The bigger cities get funding and capacity, not everybody wants to live in Kilkenny city. Some people are rural people, and they want to live in their own local area. That possibility is nearly ruled out for them."
According to Doyle, housing applications in Co. Kilkenny are put on waiting lists, because there is not sufficient infrastructure to build houses.
"There has been planning applications refused, all because the infrastructure is not there," Doyle said.
"We’ve been in contact with Uisce Éireann [about the lack of infrastructure], it’ll take years, we don’t have years," he added.
According to the councillor, Kilkenny County Council has agreed to get a consultant in to look at a potential "cluster housing policy" for rural Ireland.
Doyle also believes that Uisce Éireann is "hugely underfunded".
“I have no issue with Uisce Éireann. Any time I’ve rang, I’ve never had an issue with [it]. The government haven’t funded [it] properly," he concluded.
Earlier this week Uisce Éireann confirmed it will increase its stock of mobile generators in the wake of Storm Éowyn, with an additional 100 generators to be purchased immediately.
This is among the measures being taken by Uisce Éireann to enhance the water and wastewater network resilience following Storm Éowyn.
Ahead of the storm, Uisce Éireann activated its dedicated crisis and risk management structures in order to minimise customer impact and to protect public health.
Through the pre-emptive deployment of backup generators, the supply to almost 400,000 customers was maintained with onsite generation.
Uisce Éireann is currently undertaking a review of the lessons learned from the storm and the improvements that are necessary to improve its crisis response capability. This review will be completed by end of February 2025.
