Residents who have to pay €3,900 if they want to be connected to the new Kilcummin sewerage scheme might not see the full benefit of their contributions if provision is not made for all residents along the road to connect to the scheme in the long-term, a Kerry TD has told the Dáil.
Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said the work underway to join Kilcummin to the existing Killarney scheme is welcomed but, he insisted, connections should be left adjacent to the properties on the roadside at their boundary fence as this is not happening.
“Some incentive must be given to entice people to connect their properties to take their sewerage effluent down to where it is being connected to the Killarney treatment plant,” he said.
The scheme is 3.7km long and the project is to take sewerage from the Kilcummin village to meet with the Killarney scheme and be treated at the town’s treatment plant. The cost of the project is approximately €9 million.
“There has been a long, hard battle to get this scheme going since 2004 or earlier,” Deputy Healy-Rae said.
He welcomed the fact that 90 houses will be connected from the Páirc Chuimin estate and 30 from Mountain View as well as Our Lady of Lourdes nursing home.
But, he said, between 50 and 70 other householders in Ballynamaunagh, Inchycullane and Coolcorcoran have being told they will have to pay €3,900 for a connection.
“On top of this, they will have to pay themselves for the work to take it in around to their houses. This is a new departure by Irish Water,” the Kerry TD stated.
He said when other schemes like Barraduff, Rathmore, Farranfore, Milltown and Ardfert were developed, connections were taken from the main pipe and placed at the boundary walls of the individual residences free of charge.
“Now that it’s happening in Kilcummin they will have to pay a connection fee of €3,900. This is a big mistake as the connection should be made now while the work is going on,” Deputy Healy-Rae stated.
He said the Kilcummin road is closed to facilitate the works and the main pipe is gone down as low as seven meters in places so if the connections are not taken out of the mains now, it is unlikely to happen again the future.
The Kerry TD asked the minister to provide funding for the contractor to make sure that the connections are done now while the works are ongoing.
“The purpose of the scheme in the first place is to prevent pollution and the protect the Deenagh River and the beautiful lakes of Killarney from issues like algae bloom. The full benefit of this scheme, which is paid for by public money, will not be realised if all the residents down along the road do not connect,” he insisted.
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