Call for urgent action over water problems in parts of Kildare
The senator said elderly residents, people living alone and families with young children had been left without access to water
Senator Fiona O’Loughlin has called for urgent action over ongoing water outages and poor communication from Uisce Éireann affecting communities across north-west Kildare and parts of Newbridge.
Speaking in Seanad Éireann, Senator O’Loughlin said residents in areas including Allenwood, Robertstown, Caragh, Cappanargid and Clongorey, have experienced repeated water shutdowns during the recent warm weather, with supplies reportedly cut off five times in the past week alone.
The senator said elderly residents, people living alone and families with young children had been left without access to water, while many were not receiving timely updates about outages.
“People can make plans if they get the information in a timely way,” she said, adding that some households only received notifications hours after water had already been turned off.
O’Loughlin also criticised what she described as “wrong information and miscommunication” from Uisce Éireann, saying local councillors were receiving conflicting updates about the cause of the problems.
Responding on behalf of the Government, Minister of State Christopher O’Sullivan acknowledged frustrations around communication and said he would raise the issue directly with Uisce Éireann.
“If people are informed, it takes away a lot of the frustration,” he said. “That is a key aspect.”
Mr O’Sullivan said the supply problems were linked to sustained high demand, critically low reservoir levels and intermittent outages. He said pressure management measures, network reconfiguration and leak detection works were ongoing across the affected areas.
The Minister of State also confirmed that separate operational issues in the Hillsborough area of Newbridge included a burst watermain, a leaking valve and unauthorised abstraction of water from the network by a third party.
Senator O’Loughlin said she would continue pressing Uisce Éireann for “honest and time-bound information” as residents await a long-term solution.