Uisce Éireann water bursts cause ‘unfair’ South Donegal school closure
Frosses National School had to temporarily close as village suffers ‘major’ water bursts
Water bursts in South Donegal resulted in the closure of Frosses National School for two days, as a Donegal County Councillor said Uisce Éireann water issues “can not continue in Frosses.
The Principal of Frosses National School, Dermot Gallier, confirmed to Donegal Live that water burst issues had caused two days of closure for the school, after Cllr Noel Jordan criticised Uisce Éireann (formerly known as Irish Water) for their services and repeated water bursts in Frosses during September’s meeting of the Donegal Municipal District.
Gallier said: “We had two closures towards the end of last term, and we had a leak before we opened again. We had to close for two full days.
“There have been a number of bursts in the area. There was another one last week in the village. It didn’t affect us, but it affected further up the village.
“It would just be that the whole mains need to be upgraded.”
Speaking to Donegal Live following the Donegal MD meeting, Sinn Féin’s Cllr Jordan said the closure of the school was “unfair” and called on Frosses to be a beneficiary of the €300 million Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme fund.
Cllr Jordan said: “The issue is that there have been a number of bursts in the last number of weeks. Four major bursts, and it resulted in one of the properties nearly being flooded, a small business and a household.
“We get the local crew out, turn it off and replace the pipe out there.
“I have asked for 500 metres through the village for the full piping to be replaced. It is affecting businesses, households and the outer area.
“The school, again, it is not fair to see the school having to close for two days before the summer holidays because of these major bursts.”
When asked how the issue should be resolved, Cllr Jordan commented: “I am asking for Irish Water, who have recently announced a €2 billion fund from the Government to upgrade the water and wastewater systems.
“There is €300 million put aside countrywide for small towns and villages, and I want Frosses to be a part of that.
“This can not continue in Frosses. It is a small village trying to survive, and this upgrade needs to happen.
“The fund that Irish Water has, I also want to add, is Cullionboy Reservoir, Leghawney, and Teelin, where there is frustration due to the same thing.
“They are fixing weekly, I mean, weekly, another bit of pipe and then moving on, instead of replacing the mains there.
“Irish Water doesn’t get pulled up at times. They are sending men every week to fix bursts, and if they replaced the pipe fully, they would not be incurring the costs of it all.”