Irish Examiner view: US election is causing great uncertainty
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The headline in yesterday’s Irish Examiner was not encouraging: “500k people drinking ‘at-risk’ water”.
The detail behind that headline was equally disquieting: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a report which raises serious concerns about our public water supply.
The 500,000 people being served by “at-risk” public water supplies — mostly due to persistent trihalomethanes (THMs) and cryptosporidium — rose from 481,000 to 561,000 over the course of a year.
The report also states that over 250,000 people are living with long-term boil notices.
It is deeply unsatisfactory that over 250,000 people cannot drink water straight from the tap at home.
That alone would raise fundamental questions about past and present actions taken by Uisce Éireann, the organisation charged with responsibility in this area, but the report also casts some doubts about Uisce Éireann’s future performance.
The environmental agency says Uisce Éireann is highly unlikely to meet its commitment to remove all public-side lead pipework by 2026, for instance.
Uisce Éireann is already under scrutiny after debacles such as the fish kill in the River Allow in North Cork last month, when 5,000 fish were killed after a spillage from the Uisce Éireann treatment plant at Freemount.
One recurring thread among complaints about Uisce Éireann is lack of communication. Councillors in Cork were vocal last month about the lack of information from the organisation, with one representative pointing out that there was no way to get information from Uisce Éireann at weekends.
This unhappiness was echoed by representatives in Tipperary in February, when they bemoaned the lack of communication about outages in Clonmel.
The month before, Galway councillors were angered by the “scandalous” lack of communication about water supply issues in Carraroe. One councillor described Uisce Éireann as “absolutely useless” and the “greatest quango that was ever formed”.
Readers have already noted, no doubt, that it was the EPA which issued the report — not Uisce Éireann.
It seems that rail travel is increasing in popularity in Ireland, with the National Transport Authority suggesting that the number of train journeys taken is up 12%, according to a recent survey.
A total of 178,682 journeys were taken across the country’s rail network on November 9 last year, which is encouraging. Train travel is good for the environment, given it reduces the numbers travelling by car and therefore lowers emissions; it also reduces traffic levels on the roads, another positive.
However, there are large parts of the country which don’t have the option of rail travel simply because there are no rail lines. The north-west is particularly badly served in that regard.
Meanwhile, other areas could easily be linked for the benefit of all. The East Cork municipal district council has asked the Department of Transport to state its position on opening the old Midleton-Youghal rail line after an Irish Rail executive stated there was no physical impediment to doing so.
If this line were reopened, it would relieve the N25, which is often clogged by traffic. It would also mean an eventual Cork-Waterford rail link becoming more of a possibility.
If people are to opt for public transport then they must be given more options like this.