Mayo councillor lambasts council for 'pathetic' Murrisk water press release

A WESTPORT councillor has described as pathetic a press release issued by Mayo County Council welcoming the start of work on the Murrisk water scheme which he claims fails to mention the local community.

Last month, a ceremony took place in Murrisk to mark the signing of the contracts and the beginning of the work of the €8.24 million project to connect up to 500 houses in the area with fresh water through 50km of pipelines.

The communities of Murrisk, Lecanvey and Kilsallagh campaigned for a number of years to be connected to the Lough Mask water supply with their current supply coming from Croagh Patrick and requires boiling before it can be consumed.

The commencement of the work was welcomed by local councillors but Westport-based councillor Peter Flynn took issue with the press release issued by Mayo County Council regarding the start of the work.

Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District, he said that the press release came out a week after the ceremony took place and it failed to mention any of the people including the local community who were instrumental in delivering the project. He said the local community put their faith in the project by contributing financially before work started and this should have been acknowledged.

“The press release that went out from Mayo County Council a week after the event was absolutely shocking. It was a week after the event took place and there was no mention of the work done by the local people and there was no word about the massive effort put in by the Murrisk committee to deliver that water scheme and the massive work done by volunteers to deliver that over the last number of years.

Unforgivable

“The fact the Murrisk community was completely ignored is unforgivable to be honest with you. I find it shocking that those people were removed from what should have been nothing but a good news story and saying well done to everyone for pulling together - the council, the community and the executive - it was a template of what could be done. Then to go off and send out this press release a week after… It really is pathetic.

“We have a communication team of nine or ten people and if that is the best we can come up with then this council is in deep trouble. It is no reflection on anyone in this room and my comments are going loud and clear to Kevin Kelly [Chief Executive of Mayo County Council], Catherine McConnell [Director of Services] and the communications team. There should be an apology made to the people of Murrisk for what they allowed in that press release,” he said.

The Fine Gael councillor added that there was also no mention of any of the local councillors for the work they did and also criticised the fact that local TD Michael Ring was also not mentioned.

“There was no mention of Michael Ring and I am not saying that because he is a Fine Gael member I am saying that because Michael Ring played an absolutely crucial role in ensuring the [funding] shortfall came through,” he said.

Positive

Independent councillor Christy Hyland said the start of the work has been met with delight in the local community and described it as 'one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in our area for a long number of years'.

He also welcomed the work on new toilets in the carpark at the foot of Croagh Patrick in Murrisk and stressed that there was a lot of work going on in the area.

“I am delighted it is happening and the facilities being provided and good things are happening.

“We are getting there bit by bit but we can't do it all over night. Let's be positive but of course we have challenges like every other area has challenges. There is positive stuff for the people out there,” he added.