A HOTEL in Carrigaline had to close for several days because of a water outage, a council meeting has heard.

Cllr Patrick O’Donovan (FF) called on Cork County Council to write to the CEO of Uisce Éireann to highlight concerns about the high number of water mains breaks across the county.

‘Over the past few months Carrigaline and its surrounding areas have suffered with an excessive amount of water mains breaks. This Ballea Road has seen multiple breaks at the same location, and it’s affecting local businesses such as the Carrigaline Court Hotel, which had to close for a number of days because they had no water,’ said Cllr O’Donovan.

‘I’ve been inundated with complaints from residents, business owners and some families with babies who all need access to water. It’s simply not good enough that Uisce Éireann has no plan for Carrigaline and will continue on a path of applying Band Aids to water breaks across the area.’

He added that the company is well-resourced by the Government and that they must take responsibility for the water network, invest in infrastructure and improve drinking water.

Cllr Kate Lynch (FG) said she has two areas in the Macroom area on a boil water notice and a do not use notice since last November and described the situation as ‘absolutely ridiculous.’

‘I might as well be ringing Disneyland and Mickey Mouse to get an answer as I am ringing and emailing them and getting no response,’ she said.

‘It’s an absolute disgrace that we have people without drinking water since last November in a residential area and the response from Uisce Éireann is nil.’

Cllr Marie O’Sullivan (FG) said there is a health issue for people who need water for home dialysis treatment.

Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) said: ‘Any time I ring them I don’t get a reply until a week later. We need to get onto the Minister for Housing now and bypass Uisce Éireann.’

Cllr Gillian Coughlan (FF) said the problem is the lack of accountability and they are not getting the message quickly enough and not nimble enough to respond.

There seems to be no plan and if there is one we have no input into it. It’s also evident they don’t have enough staff and we need a pipeline of  staff coming into Uisce Éireann.

We need to train young people for this work.’

Cllr Sinead Sheppard (FG) said the repairs by crews are often ‘sub-standard’ and the timeframe for Uisce Éireann to carry out repairs works is completely unacceptable.

Cllr Peter O’Donoghue (Aon) said the staff on the ground are run off their feet due to desperate staff shortages.