50 farmers refuse access to Shannon/Dublin mega-pipe

Fifty farmers have refused access for the proposed Shannon/Dublin mega-pipe.

North Tipp councillor Seamus Morris said this week that this means Irish Water will have to bring the pipe around the fifty farms.

The councillor also maintained that the project would not be passed in Europe and pointed to the failure of Irish Water to submit its planning application on time in 2019. "This is like another National Children’s Hospital,” he claimed.

Cllr Morris is also calling on Tipperary’s Oireachtas representatives to state where they stand on Irish Water’s plan to pump 350 million litres of water a day to the Greater Dublin area from Parteen Weir (just below Lough Derg).

The €1.3bn Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project is listed in the National Development Plan which was recently launched. It is the only reference to the Nenagh electoral area in the plan.

The plan would see a 170km pipeline being built between Parteen basin below Ballina, with water being pumped to a station outside Birdhill before going on to a new reservoir to be built outside Dublin.

“I want to ask our TDs and one senator and the Green Party in Tipperary if they think draining Lough Derg is a good idea?” said Cllr Seamus Morris following the launch of the NDP. “Is it a good idea to pump water into pipes in Dublin where it it is going to leak?”

The Councillor wants the project to be scrapped and alternative solutions to be found for Dublin's water shortage problem.

He said that those opposed to the plan have environmentalists and engineers lined up to support their cause.

The councillor also claims that Irish Water is not fit for purpose and needs to be completely reconfigured.