Uisce Éireann slammed for ‘broken promises’ following sewage flooding

Uisce Éireann has been slammed for their “broken promises” after another instance of sewage flooding in Mount Carmel Park last week.

Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy criticised the state-owned water utility company for their inaction on a Drainage Area Plan to counter the issue.

According to emails shared by the Deputy, Uisce Éireann took six months to respond to a query placed by him and are behind schedule.

Paul Murphy TD stated: “It is simply unacceptable that the health of residents and park users is put at risk and deadlines for actions keep getting delayed.”

Sewage has previously burst through manholes and flowed into the River Dodder on several occasions.

Uisce Éireann told Deputy Murphy in March 2024 that the “sewer is suffering from large volumes of storm water inflow to the system”, resulting in “flooding from the Dodder Valley Sewer impacting the environment and posing a risk to public health through flooding.”

At that time, the state-owned company informed the TD that they were in stage three of four of a Drainage Area Plan.

Stage one was information gathering, stage two involved surveys and supervision to build models, stage three was a test comparing the existing network against current design flows and predicted flows up to 25 years in the future.

Stage four involves the development of design solutions to meet the needs of the Dodder and the surrounding areas.

The most recent update the Deputy received was in February 2025 and stated that the body were concluding the third stage and moving forward to the final stage, 11 months after Uisce Éireann stated that they were “currently at the end of stage three.

“Uisce Éireann knows where large flows are entering the system, and their answers to me indicate water from the river itself may be entering the system.

“They’ve also identified where the sewer is leaking groundwater into the network, and where private developers are funnelling water from brown fields into the system.

“ Urgent action should be taken to address these, and a clear timeline provided for when the system will be properly overhauled.”

The Dublin South-West representative has pledged to share any reply he gets from his latest follow-up with local residents.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.