Drop in Ballyhooly water pressure has left people unable to wash clothes or shower, councillor says

A huge drop in water pressure for the Ballyhooly area has left people in that north Cork community unable to shower or wash clothes or dishes for two weeks, an independent councillor for the Fermoy Municipal District told a meeting of Cork County Council this week.

According to Willie O’Leary, who raised the issues after the suspension of standing orders, the issue was that a section of pipe from the reservoir to the village had to be replaced.

“All we’re getting from Irish Water is the standard reply, we don’t have answers for residents and, as public representatives, it’s embarrassing.

“I would plead with the Council Executive to use whatever leverage you have with Irish Water over the coming days to try and progress it,” he said, outlining that funding for the replacement of pipes could be accessed under a national programme but that there was no scope to access that funding until the end of the year.

The independent councillor’s colleagues on Fermoy MD spoke in of his emergency motion.

According to Fine Gael’s Noel McCarthy, the people of Ballyhooley had suffered enough.

“They’ve been suffering for far too long because of the lack of pressure.”

Deirdre O’Brien of Fianna Fáil told her fellow councillors that the pressure was so low in the Ballyhooly water supply that it took two minutes and 12 seconds to fill a small bottle of water while Independent councillor Peter O’Donoghue said the issue had been going on for years in the village but that it had worsened in the past number of weeks.

“It’s catastrophic out there at the moment,” he said. “I work with a charity over in Kenya and we got water to a local village over there — there’s water in Kenya but they don’t have water in Ballyhooley — there’s something seriously wrong in 2024 when there’s no water in Ballyhooly.”

Former mayor Frank O’Flynn, currently convalescing after an operation, spoke on the motion from his home and said that a long-term solution was required which he described as the installation of a new 3-4 inch pipe to connect the village and the reservoir, a distance of some 6km.

Replying to a query from The Echo, an Uisce Éireann spokesperson said the “recent supply disruption was due to a burst water main in the area” which was investigated and repaired on September 16.

“The existing watermains have been identified as contributing to low water pressure in the area,” said the spokesperson. “Mains replacement will take several investment cycles to complete, having regard to available resources, funding and prioritisation; and the network needs to be managed in the meantime, responding to bursts and issues when they occur.

“In the short-term, to minimise the impact of potential supply disruptions and following reports raised by customers in the locality, Uisce Éireann has deployed a leakage investigation and repair team to Ballyhooly.”