Water cuts: ‘I’m over checking the taps all the time like a mad woman’

A mother with a four-month-old baby but no water since Tuesday evening has said “it’s been a bit of a nightmare”.

Michelle Geoghegan (31) lives with her husband and their new baby in Griffith Avenue in Marino.

“I wouldn’t mind if we got some sort of warning, but we’re kind of being lied to. They [Irish Water] said there would be water restrictions, but there was nothing about there being no water at all.

“I’ve been checking online and in the papers. There are a lot of schools in the area and older people, so I’m not sure how this can continue.”

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Ms Geoghegan said water returned briefly on Tuesday afternoon following restrictions on Monday night, but it has yet to return on Wednesday.

“We have nothing in the taps this morning. It’s been a bit of a nightmare with sterilising bottles and that. If we had been told there would be no water I could have gotten more organised with supplies. We got bottles of water in yesterday.

“It’s just the anger though, you feel like you’re being lied to.”

Ms Geoghegan said Irish Water has advised her to keep checking its website for updates and her kitchen tap.

“It’s all up in the air at the moment. I’m over checking the taps all the time like a mad woman. I’m not getting anything done. I’ve been in touch with my mother-in-law about washing and that over the next couple of days. We have two dogs as well that will need washing,” she added.

Emma Collins (47) from Rialto said her 12-year-old daughter was unable to brush her teeth before going to school on Tuesday morning.

Ms Collins said water did not return at their apartment in Dublin 8 until Tuesday afternoon.

“A trickle of water came at around 11 o’clock, but it didn’t come back to full power until 2pm. I contacted Irish Water who said it can take up to four hours for full pressure to return.

“If people are getting up to go to work around 7am and it takes four hours for the water to return, it’s going to have to be turned on earlier,” Ms Collins said.

Water returned at their home on Wednesday morning follow overnight restrictions.

“I haven’t had a shower yet so hopefully I will have one this morning,” Ms Collins said. “I haven’t done a wash or cleaned any of the dishes.”

She said Irish Water need to inform the public how long water restrictions will continue for.

“Met Eireann has issued another weather warning, saying it’s going to get really cold. How will people survive with no heating past 8pm,” she said.

“I don’t think the Government should allow them to continue that. We will need heating, you can’t do that to vulnerable people.

“I heard Eamon Gallen [general manager of Irish Water] on the radio yesterday, and he wasn’t answering people’s questions. He skirted around it and didn’t say how long this will go on for.

“We just need to know how long this will go on for.”