Delays in connecting Shrule to the Galway water supply continue, with fears that it could take up to a year for the connection to be made.
According to Councillor Patsy O’Brien Galway County Council have failed to reply to correspondence he sent them over the summer and he told a meeting of the Ballinrobe electoral area committee on Monday that this is a matter of urgency.
The pipes have been lying idle for months and Cllr O’Brien said as far back as last May he feared Mayo was not being told the full truth by their neighbours. In May the director of services Mr Seamus Granahan confirmed that Galway County Council were aware the infrastructure had been put in place but Galway had been undergoing a water availability issue since the cryptosporidium crisis. At that time Mr Granahan believed Shrule would be connected by the end of the summer or early autumn but to date nothing has been done to further the situation.
That is except from efforts which have been made by Cllr O’Brien which have resulted in Caherlistrane Private Water Scheme agreeing to supply Shrule. Cllr O’Brien has asked that Mayo County Council visit this option “as a matter of urgency” because he fears “this could go on for another 12 months”. “People are waiting long enough. It’s hard to explain the delays to them when the pipes are ready to go but there is no water flowing in them. I will continue to assist in the matter as far as I can,” he told Monday’s meeting.
Cllr Damien Ryan said the matter was in the hands of Galway County Council and he asked that the director of services, who was not present at Monday’s meeting, would resolve the matter as quickly as possible. Committee chairman Cllr Harry Walsh said the cryptosporidium outbreak in Galway should have taught Mayo a lesson: that is “the sensible option is to supply ourselves because we don’t doubt our own supplies and we continue to question the supply from Galway.”
