Meeting in Limerick over plans to divert water from River Shannon to Dublin

A PUBLIC meeting is to take place this Thursday night over plans to divert water from the River Shannon up to Dublin.

Uisce Eireann, formerly Irish Water, is expected to lodge a planning application later this year to abstract water from the Shannon between Birdhill and Corbally to supply the capital, and its eastern hinterland.

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The June 19 meeting, which commences at 7.30pm at the Kilmurry Lodge Hotel in Castletroy, is designed to provide information on the plan.

Organised by the Limerick branch of the Green Party, it’s expected new information will be made available from Uisce Eireann, ESB, the EPA and Inland Fisheries Ireland.

Members of the Shannon Protection Alliance, anglers and others with an interest in the river are also expected to be in attendance.

At this month’s metropolitan district meeting, it was agreed that members write to Uisce Eireann to voice their concern about the proposal.

Green Party councillor Sean Hartigan, whose motion to do this secured unanimous support, said: “They propose to take a 3.5 cumecs of water per second from the river. That's one-third of the flow of the old River Shannon between Birdhill and Corbally. It's a significant amount of water.”

He pointed to recent hosepipe bans hitting Limerick, and earlier this year, water needing to be tankered into some towns across the rural county.

“We are facing into more droughts and we need to maintain the supply of water for Limerick and its development,” he added.

Fellow City East councillor Elena Secas, Labour, seconded the motion.

She said: “Uisce Éireann has already spent €80. Could this have been better used to address Dublin’s ageing infrastructure?

The McCarthy Hyder Report revealed 800km of cast iron pipes in Dublin, over a century old and beyond repair. Yet the focus remains on leakage reduction rather than renewing this failing network. If the pipeline goes ahead, much of the water may simply leak into the ground,” she predicted.

She wants an independent evaluation to take place before anything else happens.

All are welcome at the meeting.