Neill O'Neill
‘A blatant and utter lie’ was how a councillor described previous assurances that there was no problem with sewage discharge from Newport into Clew Bay. Last July the issue of Newport’s sewerage infrastructure and treatment process was given a full airing at a meeting of the West Mayo Municipal District in the town. The lack of sewage treatment in the town was highlighted but investigations at the time involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Irish Water and Mayo County Council failed to find any problems, despite the clear presence of discharge near the outlet at the tidal holding tank at the harbour.
Recently, it was revealed that Irish Water, working in partnership with Mayo County Council, has reviewed the discharges from the Newport collection network and has informed the EPA that the discharges are in fact untreated rather than receiving primary treatment as reported in the Wastewater Discharge Licence Application submitted in 2010.
As such, it was added that Newport, as a now identified untreated agglomeration, can expect to have a high importance having regard for these national priorities in Irish Water’s next capital investment submission to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).
Speaking at yesterday’s monthly meeting of the West Mayo Municipal District in Geesala, Cllr Brendan Mulroy said he feels ‘let down’.
“This story came from this group, through The Mayo News, and we were told there was no issue in Newport by the EPA, by Irish Water and by Mayo County Council. That was a blatant and utter lie. I saw it myself, but a year later Irish Water are now saying that Newport can expect to be prioritised because of the problem there. What is there this year was there last year and every other year. There was a national issue in Clare this week when there was discharge into the bay in Kilkee, it was on RTÉ news, yet for years this has been allowed to happen in Newport. We have put faith in the authorities, yet for years they have stood by and allowed this to happen. The people of Newport have been let down, Irish Water need to explain this, people are angry, and no advice has been given on what to do now for the people of the town. It is a disgraceful situation. The EPA, the council and Irish Water all put it in motion to discredit what we were saying and what was being reported. Where are they now? It is not good enough.”
Cathaoirleach of the district, Cllr Michael Holmes, who like Cllr Mulroy had championed the issue in the past, added that if the local people and councillors had been listened to on this, they could be further along the process of remedying the matter.
“They [the authorities] have woken up now and said this is happening, we have been telling them that for years. We have to start at the bottom of the ladder, but I’m annoyed that we are only on the first step now when we should have been on it years ago.”
Councillor Gerry Coyle called for the matter not to be sensationalised. While agreeing that what is happening is a ‘disgrace’ he said it could be damaging to highlight the matter too much.
However, Cllr Mulroy disagreed, saying that for too long ‘this county has buried its head in the sand’.
“I’m not trying to discredit Newport, anybody can see what is happening there, it cannot be covered up. I’m trying to ensure its needs are looked after into the future. The agencies discredited us, but we were right.”
Cllr Holmes added that while he understood both points, a situation could not be allowed to develop whereby elected members could be accused of not acting on information. It was agreed to seek a representative of Irish Water and Mayo County Council’s Water Services Department to address the next meeting of the West Mayo Municipal District.
