McGrath and Morris slam Shannon pipe project

WITH the Government apparently sticking to the previous administration's plans to pipe water from the River Shannon to the greater Dublin and Midlands regions, the Chairman of the Nenagh Municipal Area, Seamus Morris, and Tipperary Independent TD Mattie MacGrath have spoken out against the project.
Deputy McGrath has appealed to the Government to immediately halt the plans for the pipeline.
He said the costs of the project were spiralling and were now estimated to exceed €1.3 million.
"The project proposes to pipe treated water into a water network that will see up to 57% of its water lost back into the ground through leaking pipes," said Deputy McGrath.
"We need to look at repairing the pipes, look at alternative water supplies rather than pushing ahead with a fantasy project that will quickly become our second children's hospital."
Stating that the costs of the children's hospital had spiralled form an original €400 million to a pesent estimate in excess of €2 billion, Deputy McGrath warned that a similar scenario seemed to be emerging in relation to the pipe project.
"We are literally throwing billions of euro down the drain and this needs to be re-examined as it will cause huge delays on all other water treatment and wastewater treatment system upgrades, which ar also urgently required in towns and villages around the country," warned Deputy McGrath.
Meanwhile, Councillor Morris, who has been a consistent opponent of the abstraction project, welcomed Deputy McGrath's contribution. He said the plan to take the water from the Shannon to supply Dublin amounted to "enviromental vandalism".
Any hopes by those opposed to the scheme that the new Government would abandon the project were dashed when Junior Minister, Malcolm Noonan, responding to Deputy McGrath in the Dáil recently, said the pipeline was strategically important for the development of the country.
The project, which envisages a pipe route running through much of north Tipperary, would see water extracted from the river at Parteen before being treated in Birdill and piped via Nenagh, Lower Ormond and on to Dublin. The project would involve spurs along the route to feed other urban settlements in the greater Dublin area and the midlands region.　
Minister Noonan said it was vital the project goes ahead. He said: "It’s strategically important for the future development of the country. 
“We certainly can’t meet our housing needs and as was proven earlier on this year we had hosepipe bans. I think it’s vitally important that we really do have a secure and safe supply and this does require looking at all options in terms of water service provision for the country."