There was good news this week for the long-running Shrule water saga with the announcement that the supply is to be connected by the end of October.
Galway County Council had been accused by members of the Ballinrobe electoral area committee of dragging their feet on the matter when delays in making the connection continued.
The news was confirmed this week to Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony by Mr Brian O’Reilly, senior engineer with Mayo County Council, and the supply will be from the Tuam regional scheme.
“The people of Shrule have been waiting a long time to have this upgrade put in place and it will be very welcome news to the area. I am glad that this long saga is coming to a successful conclusion,” said Dep O’Mahony.
South Mayo Councillor Patsy O’Brien was also delighted with the news and said his representations at every Ballinrobe electoral area meeting over the past number of months have finally paid off. Cllr O’Brien added that he had secured an alternative connection, at Caherlistrane, for the Shrule supply because the Tuam connection was being held up by Galway County Council, but he was happy with the news that the scheme will now be connected to its original intended home at Tuam.
Dep Michael Ring has expressed the hope that Mayo County Council would honour their commitment to have the connection made by the end of October, a commitment which Mr O’Reilly said the council would do everything to ensure is upheld.
“The people of the Shrule area have been waiting for a very long time for this upgrade to take place. I am very anxious that the commitment that has been given by the council would be honoured. In this day and age, people are entitled to a proper clean water supply. This matter has been ongoing for so long and hopefully now the people of Shrule will at last be able to avail of this clean water supply,” concluded Dep Ring.
Ballinrobe’s Damien Ryan said the annoucement was long overdue explaining that the network was in place for quite a while but Galway County Council caused the delay. He was delighted that Shrule would have a proper supply without interruption and added that the next crucial move would be to have the scheme extended to Kilmaine.
