Sir, – Could there be any more stark contrast between the success of the Web Summit and the failure of our capital city’s water supply over the past few days?
On one hand we have a hugely successful event, bringing key decision-makers and investors to Ireland to look at our burgeoning internet and digital industry, investing, creating employment and wealth. On the other hand we have a water supply system that fails to meet the basic needs of the population.
Imagine a group of investors, after meeting young Irish entrepreneurs at the summit and considering investing in their young company. They arrive in town for a meal to mull over the deal to find a restaurant unable to brew coffee, flush toilets and function normally because of a water shortage. What a wonderful advertisement that is for Ireland.
Clearly reform of our public services needs fresh impetus! – Yours, etc,
JOE BERGIN,
Caragh Green,
Naas, Co Kildare.
Sir, – Might the creation of a national infrastructure authority, into which the National Roads Authority could be subsumed, be an appropriate response to the present and projected water supply problems in Dublin? Such an authority would handle project planning for all major infrastructure projects in the State, including those connected with the supply of energy and water; and the processing of waste, as well as interconnections with other states. – Yours, etc,
TONY CAREY,
Glencree Road,
Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Is the Government’s water policy a washout?
OLIVER DUFFY,
Fremont Drive,
Melbourn Estate,
Cork.
Sir, – Ballymore useless water treatment plant? – Yours, etc,
PATRICK O’BYRNE,
Shandon Crescent,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – We are told water is turned back on at 7am but it may take two hours to get to some people.
Then we are assured that if the fire brigade needs water in a location where there is none that it will be turned on for them. Could this also take up to two hours to get to them? – Yours, etc,
DAVID DOYLE,
Birchfield Park,
Goatstown, Dublin 14.
Sir, – At a time when a great deal of attention is focused on the water supply problems of our capital city and environs, a case in the High Court (Home News, October 22nd) draws attention to another significant environmental challenge facing Dublin – the proposal to extend the Ringsend treatment plant and build a 9km tunnel to discharge treated effluent into Dublin Bay.
The bay is, of course, a treasured amenity used by thousands of people on a daily basis. Moreover, Ireland rightly aspires to being a “green” location – for tourism, for clean industries and the like. Dublin Bay is a magnificent gateway to this island for visitors by air and, especially, by sea.
Surely, discharging sewage in the vicinity of an area designated as a Special Area of Conservation is wrong on every level? In the 21st century, we can do better than the traditional “Irish solution to an Irish problem”. – Yours, etc,
Prof MARIA SLOWEY,
Prospect Terrace,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.
A chara, – We’ve had a week of mind-blowing high-tech in Dublin.
The authorities want to pipe 600 million litres of water per day from the Shannon.
Is there not one low-tech entrepreneur out there who will show me how to pipe some of the 35,000 litres of rainwater that falls on my roof each year into the house for those tasks which do not need treated water? – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Blackthorn Court,
Sandyford,
Dublin 16.