Tipperary councillor slams pipeline’s inclusion in NDP submission – ‘there’s not a hope in hell’
The inclusion of a controversial project in Tipperary County Council’s submission to the review of the National Development Plan (NDP) has left one local councillor “horrified”.
Independent councillor Seamie Morris said that the fact that Tipperary County Council included the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project in their submission to the NDP “horrified” him and called for the local authority to strongly oppose to the project going ahead.
The controversial project would see a 170km pipeline built from the River Shannon in Tipperary to Dublin, to bolster the capital’s water supply.
But Cllr Morris strongly opposes the plan, saying at the July meeting of Tipperary County Council that the county needs to stop surrendering to Dublin.
Speaking to the Irish Independent after the meeting, Cllr Morris said that Tipperary stand to gain nothing from the proposed plan if it is allowed to go ahead.
"Tipperary has nothing to get out of this, in fact we’re going to lose a massive natural resource unnecessarily,” Cllr Morris hit out.
"Neither Limerick nor Clare county councils have stated in their submissions that the water supply project is a plus for them, in fact, Clare County Council had said that the councillors were totally against the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project,” the Nenagh-based councillor said.
Tipperary and the Mid West does not have an oversupply of water, Cllr Morris said, and called on councils in the Mid West to carry out a survey of water needs in the area before pumping water from Tipperary to serve Dublin.
"We have no oversupply of water, and Dublin doesn’t have a water supply shortage, it’s surrounded by water. It’s sitting on a huge expanse of ground water, the River Slaney is 30 miles north of it.
"Dublin has a massive water management problem where they’re leaking 300 million litres of water a day,” Cllr Morris said.
“What I was saying at the meeting was how dare they, first of all, and secondly, that this thing would, if it did happen would destroy the Mid West,” he added.
Councillor Morris called on Tipperary County Council to work with Limerick City and County Council and Clare County Council to carry out a needs analysis of the region’s water needs.
"If you look at Irish Water and Tipperary, you will find an awful lot of water issues, particularly in south Tipperary.
"What you will also find is that there’s 50 wastewater treatment plants in need of attention in Clare alone, there’s five major wastewater treatment plants in the Nenagh Municipal District area at capacity, so much so that we can’t build a house in there, that’s where the money should be spent, not in a project that’s not needed,” Cllr Morris said.
"There’s not a hope in hell that anyone’s taking water out of there,” Cllr Morris concluded.