Madam, – In response to a letter from a resident in Howth (January 26th) and the often legitimate frustration felt by residents across Dublin who have been without water over recent weeks, I want to reassure all water-users that Fingal County Council, along with its neighbouring local authorities in the Dublin region, is working extremely hard to restore a normal water supply in the region.
Throughout the recent period of extreme weather which seriously affected first our transport and then our water distribution network, one of our key priorities has been to keep people regularly and accurately informed on what this council has been doing to keep roads open and to water in our taps. At all times we have provided the best information available to us, through the greatest number of outlets possible, to help people to plan around these difficulties.
In recent weeks, providing a normal water supply in Fingal has been extremely difficult. This council has mobilised every available resource to respond to this problem and our response has extended throughout the night in many cases and over every weekend since problems began. Our work is ongoing and will continue until a normal water supply is secured in Dublin and we are extremely grateful for the continuing patience of everyone affected by this disruption.
In order to inform residents and business people as to how we are managing the water supply problem, we have provided regular accurate information updates through our website (which was updated more than 50 times), our Aertel page, we introduced Twitter on the website on January 6th (since updated 144 times), and through daily (or often more frequent) e-mails and press releases to all Fingal councillors, local TDs, local papers and local and national radio and TV stations. These updates have been issued as soon as accurate information was available, including in the evenings and throughout the weekends when supply was worst affected.
Our out-of-hours emergency telephone service has been available throughout, as is usual, providing information every evening and every weekend. The correspondent referred to his difficulties centring on a “Friday” to “Sunday”.
Information posted on Fingal County Council’s website last Friday, although issued at 5pm, was valid and relevant for Howth water supply for the entire weekend and therefore remained on our website until Monday morning. The website is regularly updated throughout the weekend.
The council, along with all other local authorities in the region, is doing everything it can to restore a normal supply to everyone. This work does not cease in the evenings or at weekends. Our efforts will continue until water supply in the region is secured. We will continue to provide updates and information as outlined.
It is not accurate to draw conclusions as to the non-availability of staff outside work hours or at the weekend, as the letter-writer did. An examination of the sequence of updates on the Twitter section on the website, complete with update times will confirm this not to be the case. The correspondent’s assertion as to the ability of “local authorities or any public body are not the people to lead; they are culturally incapable of doing so” is drawn from perceptions that, in this case, are incomplete as to the complexity of the issues involved. – Yours, etc,