Tipp Councillor appeals to farmers to not take Shannon Pipe 'pieces of gold'

FOLLOWING the news this week that farmers are due to get big pay outs, averaging €100,000, as part of the Shannon Pipe Project, Cllr Seamus Morris has appealed to them to not succumb to temptation and take Uisce Éireann's “pieces of gold.”
The Shannon Pipeline is a proposed 170km pipeline that will source water from the River Shannon at Parteen Basin in County Tipperary, treat it in Birdhill, and transport it to a new reservoir at Peamount, County Dublin, to provide what Uisce Éireann calls “a secure water supply for the Eastern and Midlands regions of Ireland.”
The project is managed by Uisce Éireann and is designed to meet the growing water demands of the Greater Dublin Area.
Critics point out however that the big problem of leaking pipes in the Dublin area should be sorted out instead. Some are also sceptical about the government's reassurances that the Pipe won't ecologically damage the Shannon. Others say the project is another example of our excessive focus on Dublin to the detriment of the regions.
 Cllr Seamus Morris told the Tribune that he remains as opposed to the project as ever. “The pay out deal changes nothing, as far as I am concerned,” he remarked. “The IFA have just rolled over and not acted in the best interests of the 500 landowners and the whole Mid West by agreeing to a project that has no planning permission, no logic.
“We must remember that Uisce Éireann hasn't even applied for planning. They were supposed to have had an application into An Bord Pleanála by 2019 and it was initially to cost 700 million Euros. Now we are being told it could cost over 10 billion Euros.
“It's important to remember as well that the farmers haven't agreed to anything yet.”
He criticised the IFA for “poor leadership. With that type of leadership it's no wonder that most farms in the country are being kept alive by EU grants. I am appealing to landowners not to sign up to these crazy deals for the few pieces of gold being offered.”
   The Councillor said the fight will go on. “I will be meeting with a number of organisations over the next few months readying for a substantial opposition (including taking this to the EU) to this environmental vandalism which will pump the Mid West region's most important asset 170 kms into a region that doesn't in truth have a water shortage problem. What it in fact has is a water management problem.”
He quoted Robert Foyle, a Civil Engineer in Terryglass, who talked about the desalination of seawater using “the reverse osmosis process and filtration, thus producing drinking water; using Offshore Wind Power, wave power and solar to power a plant in Dublin. These are well proven all over the world and some of the largest that have been built would easily meet Dublin demand at a fraction of the cost being bandied about in 2025.”
Mr Foyle called the Shannon Pipeline a “farcical proposal. I could understand it if the Romans were building this pipeline 2,000 years ago. If they had the advanced knowledge we have today in water desalination and purification they would have chosen the easier and more cost effective solution! Interfering with a sensitive ecological natural area such as the Shannon, which is protected by Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under EU Law should not be allowed at all.
“The Uisce Eireann proposal for 330,000 cubic metres per day at €10 billion has to be investigated! Consultant Advisors, Land Owners, Lawyers and Investors are the only winners and their win is not in the Taxpayers' interest.”

READ NEXT: Offaly farmers in line for average €100,000 compensation payout in Shannon pipeline deal