At a recent Green Party national press conference on Water Quality, Green Party councillor and Wicklow General Election candidate, Deirdre de Burca, called on Minister Dick Roche to ensure acceptable standards of drinking water in his own constituency of Wicklow.

De Burca says several “blackspots” exist in the county in relation to water quality and supply, and that Minister Roche has done little as Minister for the Environment to tackle this problem. She points to towns such as Arklow, Enniskerry, Avoca, and Blessington which she says continue to experience ongoing problems with their water supply.

“Arklow is a designated Growth Centre under the National Spatial Plan with a growing population of approximately 11,000 people at present” says de Burca. “The water from the town’s mains supply has been undrinkable for the past ten years. The people of the town regularly receive boiling notices and often have to get their drinking water supply from a tanker. The lack of a sewerage treatment plant in Arklow has meant that raw sewerage is floating into the Avoca River and this also has a very negative impact on water quality in the area. Arklow residents have been waiting almost ten years for sewerage and water treatment plants. Fianna Fail’s failure to deliver on this critical infrastructure after ten years in government is an absolute scandal”.

Councillor de Burca says that she finds it very difficult to listen to Minister Roche blame Galway City Council for its current water crisis when a similar crisis is just “waiting to happen” in his own constituency. “I am calling on Minister Roche to ‘get the finger out’ and to take effective action to tackle the water problems in his own constituency before a very serious water crisis beaks out in County Wicklow” she says.