
EMBATTLED Irish Water, under heavy fire for repeated breaks in the public water supply system in several areas in Kerry, has confirmed that it is to progress extensive network upgrades across the county this year.
Company officials, at a meeting with Kerry County Council, announced it has approved funding to replace mains in Farranfore, the Board of Works Road in Beaufort and Cordal, near Castleisland.
The works are planned for construction this year, with the first section along the Board of Works Road, already underway,
Irish Water funding has also been approved for the design of additional mains replacement between Crohane pumping station and Barleymount Reservoir, along the Listry to Faha road and in the Ashill area.
Irish Water official, Paul Moroney, said they will be working closely with Kerry County Council over the coming months to progress construction and design of mains replacement across the county.

“Not that there hasn’t been an outage”

“This mains replacement work is part of a significant investment by Irish Water to upgrade the water network in County Kerry,” he said.
“We will continue to keep the local communities up to date on commencement of works and timelines through our usual communications channels,” Mr Moroney added.
Mayor of Killarney, Cllr Maie Moloney, said the progress to design for the replacement pipes from Crohane pumping station to Barleymount Reservoir along the Listry/Faha Roads is most welcome.
“There isn’t a week that there hasn’t been an outage of water in these areas due to breakages in the pipes and I have had regular representations from people living in the Listry/Faha area who are frustrated by the constant lack of water,” she said.
The mayor added: “I welcome the decision to go to design but Irish Water now need to fast-track the replacement of pipes to ensure that the people living in these areas have their basic rights of a water supply”.
Cllr Brendan Cronin described as “shocking” statistics conforming a total of 68 water breaks in the Mid Kerry supply to three reservoirs in the 12-month period leading up to July and a further seven breaks since then.
“I want to acknowledged that Irish Water has committed to designing mains replacement from Crohane to Barleymount and from Faha to Listry but the residents there must see work on the ground with the installation of new water mains immediately,” Cllr Cronin said
“The current situation is at crisis point,” he added.