Average of one water outage per month in Kildare for 2025 - TD

2025 has seen an average of one water outage per month for Kildare residents who rely on water supply from the Hill of Allen reservoir, making it the worst year for disruptions in recent times.

That’s according to information released by Uisce Eireann to Kildare North TD Aidan Farrelly, which also revealed that failures and leaks have resulted in residents having to endure 21 outages since January of 2023.

Only three of the outages were planned, to conduct work to improve the system, while burst mains accounted for 13 of the disruptions.

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An outage on July 12 of this year was done to conserve water, while two outages, on January 24 and May 17 of this year were attributed to ‘Reservoir Interruptions’.

The information provided to Deputy Farrelly estimates that an average of almost 3,000 premises were affected by each outage.

The most commonly affected areas were Coill Dubh, Prosperous, Derrinturn, Kilmeage, Robertstown, Allenwood and surrounds, Ballyhagan, Ballyteague, Killina, Lullymore and Ticknevin.

“This information is proof of what Kildare residents already know – a failure of Uisce Eireann and successive governments to properly resource a water supply system over many years to meet the needs of a growing population in Kildare,” Deputy Farrelly said in response to the information.

“Like many problems facing Kildare people, this is the result of a failure by various state bodies and successive governments to fully appreciate that there are at least 120,000 people now living in our county who were not here in the 1990s – and the population is likely to double again in the next 30 years.

“The government and Uisce Eireann need to prepare for that expected increase now rather than being surprised when it happens – with water outages becoming even more common than they do now.

“People are sick and tired of it at this stage. We have had some very hot days this summer which makes it challenging enough for families and businesses as it is. That’s not to mention farmers whose cattle need to drink between 40 and 60 litres of water a day.

“These outages are more than an inconvenience. They can make life very difficult.”

Deputy Farrelly is a member of the Public Accounts Committee and - at his prompting - the committee is set to invite Uisce Éireann to appear when it resumes sitting after the summer recess.