Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould TD, was today briefed by Uisce Éireann that last week water with unacceptable levels of manganese left the Lee Treatment Plant and came out to customers taps in Cork city and particularly on the Northside of Cork.

A statement issued on Friday by Uisce Éireann did not identify manganese as a key concern in this situation and failed to warn people not to drink the water.

Teachta Gould said:

“I had no choice but to walk out of today’s meeting with Uisce Éireann. For months now, my constituents have been faced with dirty brown water coming from their taps.

“To find out today that last week, this wasn’t just caused by sediment and rust in the pipes but instead by potentially dangerously high levels of manganese in the water is nothing short of a scandal.

“Uisce Éireann couldn’t even tell me if customers who are blind or vulnerable were notified of this potentially dangerous water coming through their taps. It is bad enough that people have to regularly deal with unclean water but now we’re finding out, after the fact, that this water was unsafe.

“No alternative water supply was offered to people and nobody was notified. How can Uisce Éireann invite TDs into a meeting and expect them to accept that?

“The HSE and the EPA should have been out on this. I have constituents who drank this water and felt unwell this weekend – they didn’t know why because Uisce Éireann didn’t tell them. On what planet is that acceptable?

“Uisce Éireann have no answers for the people of Cork. They are telling us that this could take decades to resolve by replacing the 300km of cast iron mains which the government has yet to provide funding for. People on the Northside cannot be left drinking dirty, brown water for years on end. That is completely unacceptable.

“The Minister, the HSE and the EPA must now immediately clarify what they knew about the situation last week and what actions they took to protect the ordinary people of Cork.”