Private drinking water quality is not as good as public water quality.
The total number of small private supplies remains unknown as not all have registered with their local authority.
Eighty four percent of registered small private supplies were monitored in 2022, compared with seventy five percent in 2021.
The government review of the rural water sector identified several key issues in the provision of rural water that need to be addressed to protect public health.
The EPA today released the Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies 2022 report. Drinking water is provided to approximately 200,000 people across rural communities in Ireland, by over 380 group water schemes.
In addition, many rural commercial and public activities such as schools, creches, nursing homes, pubs and restaurants have their own drinking water wells. There are 1,700 small private supplies registered with local authorities, but the total number of small private supplies remains unknown, as many suppliers haven’t registered their supply.
Local authorities are required to monitor registered supplies annually and whilst 84% of private supplies were monitored in 2022, up from 75% in 2021, the results highlight ongoing issues with the quality of private drinking water supplies:
E.coli
Meeting E.coli standards is a basic requirement in the provision of safe drinking water. In 2022, fourteen private group schemes were found to have E. coli contamination, indicating that the water supply has not been properly disinfected. The failure of these disinfection systems put the health of approximately 5,500 people that use these drinking water supplies at risk.
Trihalomethanes (THM)
In 2022, 16 private group schemes supplying 14,000 people failed the standard for Trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs are formed when natural organic matter in the water source, such as vegetation, reacts with chlorine used in the disinfection treatment process. THM levels should comply with the drinking water quality standards, while ensuring that the water is fully disinfected. Actions to prevent THM failures need to be prioritised by suppliers, to protect public health.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Dr Tom Ryan, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “It is a local public health concern that private drinking water quality hasn’t improved in recent years despite the availability of public funding to support upgrades to water supplies. In addition, as there is no legal requirement to register private drinking water supplies, it is not possible to quantify the full extent of the risk to public health. The registration of private supplies needs to become a legally enforceable obligation on the supplier.”
A review of the rural water sector was completed in January 2023 on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The review identified several significant issues that need to be addressed to improve drinking water compliance and reduce public health risk in private water supplies. The key issues identified by the review are outlined below:
All private water supplies should be registered with the local authority.
Access to funding for water quality improvements varies greatly across local authorities resulting in available funding not being used.
Measures are needed to improve management at underperforming private group schemes.
Mr Noel Byrne, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “The EPA welcomes the completion of the rural water sector review by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The review has highlighted several issues that are contributing to poor water quality in private supplies. It is crucial that these issues, relating to registration, funding and management are addressed so that private water supplies meet required standards and public health is protected.”
Training launched to help security workers identify child victims of trafficking.
New Action Plan to combat human trafficking to be published within weeks.
EU Anti-Trafficking Day is being marked by emphasising the importance of raising awareness of the crime, and confirming that a new action plan to combat human trafficking will be published within weeks.
With over 7150 human trafficking victims registered in 2021, the number continues to rise in Europe.
EU Anti-Trafficking Day is marked each year on October 18th and among the events in Ireland today is the launch of a training module around child trafficking awareness, same aimed at relevant sectors within the security industry, and developed by the Private Security Authority (PSA) and the training provider, MECPATHS.
Separately, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is launching research, funded by the Department of Justice, on human trafficking on the island of Ireland, with a focus on the border with Northern Ireland.
Minister for Justice Mrs Helen McEntee has stated, “Human trafficking is an exploitative and particularly heinous crime that preys on some of the most vulnerable, and is committed with no regard for life, dignity or for the most basic of human rights. It has no place in a modern and civilised society. Victims can be found anywhere, often hidden in plain sight and we need wider society to recognise the signs and to contact An Garda Síochána if they have concerns. We are determined to combat this insidious crime and to support those who are victims of it.“
Minister McEntee will shortly publish the third Action Plan to combat human trafficking, with the key goals of this plan focused on creating a more victim-centred approach to identifying and supporting victims; raising awareness; and providing training for those who need it.
Introducing the revised National Referral Mechanism (NRM) will be a key action. The National Referral Mechanism is the framework through which the State identifies and supports victims of human trafficking.
An Garda Síochána is currently solely responsible for identifying victims. The reality is that some victims of trafficking, because of interactions they may have had with law enforcement officials in other jurisdictions, have a perception that police cannot be trusted. The new approach acknowledges other State bodies and NGOs have a role in identifying victims of human trafficking and referring them to the NRM. Legislation to introduce the new NRM is currently before the Dáil.
The development of training, through NGOs, targeting front line staff in industries such as hospitality, airline, shipping and security, latter who may come into contact with trafficked persons is also key to the new plan.
Today sees the launch of the PSA online training module around Child Trafficking awareness. The training will become mandatory for all new applicants for a PSA licence in the Door Supervisor and Security Guarding sectors.
Further information can be found on the Department of Justice’s dedicated anti trafficking website HERE.
Construction waste is Ireland’s largest waste stream, and current recycling rates are too low.
Implementation of new national end-of-waste criteria will reduce construction waste going to landfills, and increase recycling rates.
Use of end-of-waste criteria for recycled aggregates will support green procurement in the built environment.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published National End-of-Waste Criteria for Recycled Aggregates*. *Aggregates meaning materials formed from a mass of fragments or particles loosely compacted together.
The criteria apply to aggregates recycled from construction and demolition waste, including soil and stone, concrete, bricks and ceramics. These criteria will allow for the safe reclassification of recycled aggregates from a waste to a product, which can be subsequently placed on the market.
There is a strong demand for recycled aggregates in Ireland to support development of new infrastructure with a low carbon footprint. The criteria allow for the replacement of virgin aggregates with recycled aggregates, in uses such as general fill, road construction, railway ballast and other non-structural uses.
Keeping materials in use is one of the fundamental elements of a circular economy. These criteria support and facilitate increased recycling in the construction, demolition and waste sectors.
Commenting on the criteria, Mr Micheál Lehane, [Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability], said: “The publication of national end-of-waste criteria for recycled aggregates is a significant milestone for both the EPA and industry. The criteria will help tackle construction waste, the largest waste stream in the country and support the development of markets for recyclable materials. This is the type of progress which is needed if Ireland is to move in a meaningful way from the linear to the circular economy.”
End-of-waste criteria for recycled aggregates will also support national green procurement ambitions. A publicly-available register on the EPA website will enable buyers to confidently choose a registered supplier of quality recycled aggregates.
Mr Warren Phelan, [Programme Manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme] noted: “The publication of the criteria show the EPA’s commitment to streamlining the regulation of secondary products. This represents a shift away from the assessment of case-by-case applications to a national criteria available to all authorised producers. These criteria will introduce a level playing field for industry and introduce a single set of rules that are easy to implement.”
The EPA calls on industry and the waste sector to now adopt, implement and build upon the criteria established.
Further information on the national end-of-waste criteria and other initiatives of the circular economy programme are available on the EPA website HERE.
From tomorrow Tuesday October 17th until the morning of Friday October 20th, Cashel Library will remain closed to the public.
Cashel Library, Cashel, Co. Tipperary.
The library’s temporary closure is required in order to facilitate necessary building works.
From Friday morning next all normal opening times will once again apply, and Cashel Library staff wish to apologise for any inconvenience the temporary closure may cause.
NOTE: Customers are asked to please remember that they can request books on line HERE.
A short story from the pen of Thurles author Tom Ryan.
“Way back in the late ‘Sixties’, long before Vincent Browne’s famously entertaining People’s Debates on TV3, we had here in Thurles, “The People’s Debating Society”, locally referred to as the PDS.
People’s Debate.
This enthusiastic group of men / women, both of all ages and from all backgrounds, met every fortnight in the local Thurles Confraternity Hall and these entertaining evenings attracted up to several hundred people at times, to discuss, in often animated fashion, the topical issues of the day from ‘Politics’ to ‘The behaviour of young boys and girls in the big bad city of Dublin’; a subject that once propelled the PDS onto the front page of the now defunct national Evening Press newspaper!
Thurles was always a great town for talking, whether on street corners or in pubs and the PDS offered every one the opportunity to discuss the issues of the day in a manner many a Town Councillor must have envied; seen as forthright, frank and honest discussions, some of which I reported for the “Tipperary Star Newspaper”, as PRO of this group. And in fairness many a Councillor bravely attended the sometimes heated battle of words taking place.
The PDS was a great training ground for would be politicians and journalists, and was a mine of information on many matters in the days before Citizens Information Centres were even heard of in Ireland. And many people who might be shy about approaching politicians for information were now being encouraged to stand up for their rights. The self confidence boost and empowerment so many individuals received from those community meetings was incalculable.
I myself had just returned to Ireland, from London, having been impressed by the Citizens Advice Bureau system over there and therefore thought the PDS could lead eventually to similar centres in Ireland. I recall having a letter published in TCD Miscellany of Trinity College, cheekily calling for a coming together of workers, the unemployed and students, the better to be educationally armed for a social revolution. To the magazine’s credit, the Editor of TCD Miscellany took the letter and an accompanying short story of the Thurles man of letters (Auxiliary Postman!) seriously, to his amazement, I might add. Today I am happy to have my books featuring stories from those protesting days in the Trinity Library. The PDS was not the only such forum for discussion in those heady days of the “Dawning of Aquarius” in the protesting ‘Sixties’.
I was a member of Conradh na Gaeilge who held diospoireachtai (Irish: discussions) in Irish and English in the hall of a local restaurant on Tuesday nights in Thurles.
Thurles had, while I was in England, won the prestigious ‘Glor na nGael All- Ireland Award’ as Ireland’s top Gaeilge – speaking town. Some of the organising committee were also to form another forum for speaking Irish called Comhluadar (Irish: Community). Every subject under the sun was discussed as Gaeilge and in English in Glenmorgan House, Thurles. The rationale was that those who could speak Irish at these discussions and those who wanted to learn or improve on their Gaeilge, could listen and learn or speak a little in English and a little as Gaeilge. The spiorad (Irish: spirit) was all that mattered. We were taken aback at what a great gra (Irish: Love) for an Gaeilge was there and still is among the ordinary people as opposed to teachers and academics, who would be expected to be fluent Gaelgoiri, anyway. It was heartening to know that so many people from so many different backgrounds were so interested in the first official language of the nation and were proud of every little focal (Irish: word) they had. And how the late Gay Byrne would have enjoyed these convivial evenings. In those days also ‘Muintir na Tire’ (Irish: People of the Country) had their Fireside Chats and they held great debating competitions for schools, which I used to report upon for the newspapers. Gael Linn also encouraged diospoireachtai and I recall feeling humbled by the power and eloquence of Rockwell College who trounced our Thurles CBS quartet. That night I learned that all the shouting and bluster and passion in the world is no match for calm and measured debate. At one of the famous Fireside Chats of Muintir na Tire I recall a prominent national politician speaking with hugely impressive authority on numerous topics related to agriculture. He mesmerised us with the force of arguments substantiated by a vast array of alleged facts and figures, thrown at us with ease and eloquence as he continually consulted his pack of cards, from which he appeared to have taken all this information. At the end of the evening, having been fascinated all night by this seemingly all knowing genius, who had all the answers to everything, I wondered, being a cheeky young lad at the time, just what kind of cards could have so much information on them. Upon picking up the cards and turning them over I was amazed and puzzled to find the cards were pure blank on both sides. (hmm..)
Then there is the important matter of ‘the way you tell ’em’. During an election campaign before the War of Independence speaker after speaker appeared to be making no headway with the vast crowd assembled in Mullinahone, in South Co. Tipperary to listen to them. But one speaker knew just how to address the plain people of Tipperary. He shouted “Men of Mullinahone!” There was a pause before he roared again; “Women of Mullinahone!” A thunderous roar shook the nearby hills. Former “Tipperary Star Newspaper Editor”, the late great William (Bill) Myles, recalled “He could say or do no wrong at all with the crowd after that”.
Mr Myles himself enjoyed debates and invited a few friends into the Tipperary Star’s editorial office one night a week for a debate, including a gentleman who was on the Republican side during the Civil War, while Mr Myles held the rank of Captain in the Free State Army.
Ah, sure, talk is cheap. But what fun, what fun!”
End.
Tom Ryan ,”Iona” Rahealty, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
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