This article is from page 2 of the 2007-10-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A ROW over water pressure led to one councillor blowing a valve and storming out of last night’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.
Independent councillor Frankie CAV Cente CesM mm MelommeclercinbercamnemecDemrcDelca my mood, less than 15 minutes after it started, 1n protest at continuing prob- lems with water pressure in areas of Ennis.
Councillor Neylon said he had been raising the issue for the past 12 months and was fed up with the coun- cil’s failure to solve the problem.
The argument between Cllr Neylon and Town Engineer, Tom Tiernan
arose as members discussed the min- utes of the September meeting of En- nis Town Council.
As Town Engineer, Tom Tiernan listed the difficulties with ensuring adequate water pressure in elevated parts of Ennis, Cllr Neylon rose from his chair and declared, “I?ll have to leave this meeting. I’m sick and tired of the bulls**t coming across this table”.
Cllr Neylon said homes in Connolly Villas, St Flannans Terrace and the Tulla Road are regularly affected and he had fielded numerous complaints from people living in those areas.
According to Cllr Neylon, low water pressure in homes and fire hydrants
could result in a serious accident.
“Tam 12 months talking about wa- ter pressure in this town and I am sick and tired of having to bring it up. It is taking up to seven hours to fill tanks in Connolly Villas. There is an ac- cident waiting to happen if someone lights a fire in their home and there is no water in the tank.”
He continued “There was a fire on Station Road last week and luckily it was contained, but we have problems with the fire hydrants. It’s a potential disaster. And this isn’t just a Connol- ly Villas problem, this isn’t a Frankie Neylon problem — it affects Flan- nans Terrace, Tulla Road, Station Road, Mill Road. I’m constantly be-
ing contacted by people. They think I’m a fool. ’m getting embarrassed at this stage”.
Mr Tiernan conceded problems did exist in elevated parts of town. He said, “We are doing everything we can to resolve the problems. The mains in those areas are very old. An awful lot are laid in back gardens and that brings problems in time.”
He added, “Extra resources are be- ing put into finding leaks. The 1m- pression is that we are doing nothing and that is not the case.”
Fine Gael councillor, Johnny Flynn supported Cllr Neylon and said he awaited Mr Tiernan’s report on the matter.