No funding for water station in Collinstown Park
Public water station installation ‘in the hands of Uisce Éireann’
The installation of a public water station in Collinstown Park is “very much in the hands of Uisce Éireann”, according to a senior council official.
Uisce Éireann “will not provide a water connection to a location more than 20 metres away” from a water source.
This was in response to a motion from Cllr Niamh Fennell (SF) at the Lucan/Palmerstown/North Clondalkin Area Committee meeting on Tuesday, June 24, calling on South Dublin County Council to “install water stations in Collinstown Park to meet the need of many park users, including those using the playground/teen space, dog-run, and using the park for training”
“I just want to put on the record that they had installed a water station in the park and subsequently realised that there was no water source, and I just think that is really bad management in terms of what the council is doing,” Cllr Fennell said about her motion in the chamber.
“It’s a waste of public money to install something before those things are looked into.
“This park is adjacent to two different estates, I can’t understand why there can’t be a water source at any part of the park.”
According to the written reply from Parks Superintendent David Fennell, the “provision of a water station was previously examined under the teen-space programme for Collinstown Park”.
“At the time it was not possible to provide a water connection as the location of the nearest water supply on the opposite side of the road made it cost-prohibitive in the context of the teen-space programme.”
A spokesperson for the SDCC Parks department also said that there was funding available to install a water station in Collinstown Park but that the council are “very much in the hands of Uisce Éireann on this”.
“If we cannot locate the water station within 20 metres of a water main, they will not provide the connection to us.”
The reply went on to state that the issue is being reviewed “with regard to the availability of a water source and the necessary approval for a connection which is required from Uisce Éireann”, and that provision of a water station will proceed once a satisfactory location has been agreed on between the council and Uisce Éireann.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
