LAST NIGHT DUBLIN City Council said that from tonight there will be nightly water restrictions put in place across the entire Dublin area to conserve water.
Local councillors and the Irish Restaurant Association have been critical about the water shortage.
Fianna Fáil’s Dublin City Councillor Mary Fitzpatrick said the water shortage and service issues highlights why people should not be charged for the service.
The water shortage is due to a “serious production problem” at Ballymore Eustace Water Treatment Plant, said the council.
“The government is making a major mistake prioritising metering ahead of fixing leaks and building new watersources,” she said, adding that at a Dublin City Council meeting she had called for the installation of domestic water meters to be delayed in Dublin.
Disruption
Councillor Fitzpatrick said that the disruption to the service “highlights the absurdity and unfairness of Minister Hogan’s decision to push ahead with domestic water metering”.
She said that Minister Phil Hogan is “buldozing” ahead with the installation of water meters, despite criticisms about the arrangements for transitioning water services to Irish Water .
She concluded: “Even Minister Hogan be must be embarrassed to charge people for water services that are unreliable and subject to regular restrictions.”
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, North West Area Councillor Paul McAuliffe said since he has been on the council, this is the fourth water restriction put in place.
“It makes you question if priortising water metering over secruing the supply of water is correct,” he said, stating that in other countries, like Scotland and New Zealand, installing the water meters in usually the last thing to be done in the chain, adding that ensuring there is an adequate supply should be top priority.
“Every day we are using more water than we produce. I understand that the local authority is really up against it and trying to produce more water than they physically can, but if this continues and people are being asked to pay for the service it is not going to wear with people,” he said.
No supply
“Can you imagine being asked to pay your ESB bill every month but not having electricity for half the night,” he said, “people won’t stand for it”.
The Restaurant Association of Ireland’s Chief Executive, Adrian Cummins said on Morning Ireland that the restrictions is going to seriously affect business in Dublin and is calling on the restrictions to be implemented later on in the evening at 9.30 pm onwards.
He also said he wanted water tankers to be supplied to businesses if they needed it, by Dublin City Council. He said that businesses pay the highest water rates in Europe, but said they are not seeing the service they pay for.
He said that Ireland is like a third world country when it comes to water supply and said that a plan b needs to be created stating that there has been talk of bringing water from the Shannon and talk of making a new reservoir.
“If you are gong to run a city then the basic requirement is water… Dublin City Council needs to set a clear strategy… if we are going to pay for this, there has to be a plan in place,” said Cummins.
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