Tipperary Councillors agreed yesterday to hold the annual meeting with Uisce Eireann on September 17th. Uisce Eireann proposed a two-hour meeting – one hour for discussion of the proposed Shannon Pipeline and one hour for all other water issues in the county.
The Shannon Pipeline proposal envisages that water will be extracted from the Shannon River at the Parteen Basin, treated at a plant to be built in Birdhill and then piped across the Eastern region of Ireland to supply water to Uisce Eireann Customers. Cllr Phyll Bugler objected to the format as being too short. The councillor is based in Ballina and says there is huge local concern that the Shannon Pipeline Project could cause an ecological disaster and leave Tipperary in difficulty with water supplies. The councillor asked for expertise to be provided for councillors in terms of ecological issues and water supply. Cllr Siobhan Ambrose proposed that each Municipal District be given a time slot in the second hour of the meeting to focus on their priority issues. The Acting CEO of Tipperary County Council,Sinead Carr, informed councillors that the pipeline project will be put forward for planning permission under the Strategic Infrastructure Legislation and that would be the time for detailed submissions if Councillors wished to object to the project. Cllr Bugler described the idea of piping treated water to Dublin where over 40% of the water leaks from the pipe network at an estimated cost of €6B as ludicrous.
