First World Problem

at

Yesterday evening.

Drogheda, County Louth.

Residents in East Meath and Louth, including Remi Olukokun (pics1-4) originally from Nigeria using the traditional African method to carry water.

Large parts of counties Meath and Louth have  suffered a water shortage due a burst pipe.

Environment Minister Eoghan Murphy (above) faced questions from residents…

On the issue of communication of information to the people who have been affected, the minister said there has been a question around communication and lessons for the future about how to communicate better.

The minister has pledged to fix the issue as quickly as possible.

He said that he has made it clear the Irish Water needs to replace this particular piece of pipe which is vulnerable.

He said it is a particularly critical piece of infrastructure and the 2.2km stretch of pipeline will be prioritised for repair.

Public criticise Minister on lack of accurate updates on water crisis (RTÉ)

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64 thoughts on “First World Problem

  1. Angry Man

    Anyone think that the Government could have arranged for this pipe to conveniently burst so they have say ‘look, we need to bring in taxes etc to pay for our crumbling pipes?’

    1. Nigel

      All they had to do was wait; something like this was inevitable. But sure, arranging to look ineffective and hapless while reminding everyone of what a debacle IW was and is would certainly be a bold move.

    2. Tabloid Rag

      The question in my mind was why they didn’t scuttle a few of these pipes before?

      A couple of these things going on at the same time around the country could have convinced all the dopes who ‘can’t pay won’t pay’ or ‘not paying again’ that the works were needed, or at least made it socially unacceptable to be a bum and freeloader not willing to pay for clean water.

      1. Sam

        These ‘dopes’ had engineers pointing out that it would have been far cheaper to fix vulnerable pipes like this than to shell out millions installing meters.

        A freeloader is someone who won’t pay their way, not someone who refuses to pay for something more than once. That’s just called not being a sucker, or a spineless peasant.

    3. Creulla De Ville

      And so it goes..this am they came out with the ‘money will have to come from school and health budgets’ patter to pay for water infrastructure costs so…

    1. sue

      and 4th photo from bottom – around 8 inches of the fellow’s underwear showing when he bends over. have people lost all sense of dignity and standards?

      these are beloved can’t-pay-won’t-pay crew… disgust me and all law-abiding citizens who actually CONTRIBUTE to society

      1. Sam

        Wow, Sue, how can you tell from the photo who has and hasn’t paid the water taxes? That’s amazing. Any chance of next week’s lotto numbers?
        Also, the fella mightn’t have lost all sense of dignity, just forgotten how to bend at the knees… in which case the fashion faux pas won’t be the worst of his problems. He won’t be long feeling it if he doesn’t start using proper posture while carrying the auld H2O.

      2. I'm "alright" Jack. Mad Jack is on annual leave.

        Obviously lower class folks as well not like you and me sue

      3. Topsy

        Sue, what about the €100 YOU gave me for conservation & me not paying a cent in water charges. I live it.

      4. Tom Sullivan

        Plenty of us who contribute to society (and far more so than you political hacks pretending to be “ordinary people”) are in the “have already paid” camp, having paid for water through motor tax, VAT and property tax. Not all of us are on the left either. No right-thinking capitalist could ever accept the privatisation of a monopoly and a vital one at that. That’s where the water charges were clearly heading, judging the refusal of ministers in your party to rule out privatisation. The corrupt regulator set up by your party set water charges some four times higher than they are in countries where water is less abundant and more difficult to deliver. Take your faux outrage elsewhere. You and your thinly-veiled apology for crony capitalism disgusts me.

  2. curmudgeon

    I’d just like to chime in about the quality of comments here. Simply put they havent a fupping clue what they are talking about and this site desperately needs some quality control below the line.

    The pipes that burst were made of asbestos. Asbestos pipes need a specially fabricated joiner that are not made in Ireland. Spares were kept by the water bodies and county councils – Irish water were offered but chose not buy these from the council. This is one of the main reasons for the outage.

    1. Cian

      1. I though that Irish Water ‘inherited’ all the water-related staff and materials from the various councils. Did Irish Water have to pay the councils for materials?
      2. Do the councils still have these spares?
      3. Was this offer to buy done years ago at the creation of IW? or in the last month – since the problem occured?
      4. As you are hoping to improve the quality of comments, can you provide any evidence of your points?

      1. curmudgeon

        I’ll only answer the last question, I work for an Irish civil engineering company that has contracts with Irish water. If you don’t believe me than ask the mods, they can reverse DNS lookup the IP I’m posting with.

          1. curmudgeon

            Nope, pipe was fitted back in the middle of the last century. Even iron ones will wear out and crack though, not just from expansion/contraction from the weather but also from corrosion from the water itself, running at about 8 bar.

          2. Vote Rep #1

            Well no, new pipes are not made with asbestos. But we do have lots of old pipes which are still made from asbestos.

            In relation to this pipe, I was told that no where in the country makes them anymore so they needed a specially made one which could be fitted by a company in the north, which was the closest place where they could get it.

            Why exactly would the councils be still holding onto these sorts of things when IW was meant to take control of everything? What sort of deal were the council offering for these pipes and why was it deemed a better deal to get one from the north?

        1. Cian

          Why not answer the other questions?
          You complain about the quality of comments then throw some in some unsubstantiated comments.

      2. curmudgeon

        The asbestos pipe is being replaced with Ductile iron one. Since the original pipe is not a standard size it too has to be fabricated.

        1. Cian

          out of curiosity – when you say this broken pipe is not a standard size, do you mean that this one specific pipe is a non-standard size? or that Ireland, as a whole, has/had a different standard size(s) than the rest of the world?

          1. curmudgeon

            Well genuis since asbestos pipes are not made anymore, and the diameter of the pipe is not standard, that is to say it’s not available to buy in an off the shelf kinda way. Hence the need for spares and now the fabrication of a new one. Also I have to admit it’s doubly funny that not only are your questions basically just flaunting your ignorance but also that you felt you needed to defend the *ahem* quality of the comments here.

          2. rotide

            Curmudgeon, Aren’t all questions basically flaunting ignorance?

            Why bother asking a question if you already know the answer?

          3. Cian

            Two things:
            1. When did I defend the quality of the comments here? *You* said that the other comments here were rubbish. You then added your 2p worth without providing anything beyond “trust me I work for a company that works for IW”.

            2. I’m trying to understand your points – clarifying what you said. You are, after all an expert. And yes, I’m ignorant of these things: but I’m trying to learn. Hence the questions.
            “flaunting your ignorance” == “asking questions” :-/

    2. Tom Sullivan

      Actually, the pipes are made from an asbestos/cement mix. But don’t let that little factlet get in the way of your rant.

  3. Owen C

    I received the conservation grant.
    I did not pay any water charges.
    You don’t want to charge me for my use of water even though I can afford to do so and am willing to do so.
    I will water the gardens and wash my cars tonight from my leafy South Dublin abode because this is how you wanted it to be.
    You are idiots.

        1. Termagant

          How gauche, how almost avant-garde of you. The tipple of the season is the fermented juice of an overripe avocado, served in the skin of a pomegranate. With a pickled onion.

          1. mildred st. meadowlark

            I’ll say only this. That sounds suitably disgusting enough to be plausible.

  4. Jake38

    A shameless ploy by the government to demonstrate the results of not investing in water infrastructure. We need a full independent enquiry chaired by Glen Hansard.

  5. bdoons

    The minister with his sleeves rolled up. ‘De Optics ‘ of been ready to get hands dirty/stuck in.

    1. Kolmo

      Straight from the Tory playbook “Shirt off, make it look like you’re doing something, also, try to look concerned”, (even though you’ve handed over the utility to a private entity, so you can do hoop all about it type of situation there)

  6. Gabby

    Shouldn’t CONCERN, TROCAIRE, OXFAM, GOAL and other organisations be rushing emergency supplies into drought-stricken Louth during these days of high anxiety?

  7. ahjayzis

    I wonder how many pipes could have been fixed with the fistful of 100’s I assume Eoghan paid The Crone to tell him to take his jacket off, roll up his sleeves and effect a ‘listening’ expression.

  8. curmudgeon

    If anyone is annoyed that I haven’t replied to them it’s simply because there is no “Reply” button under their responses.

  9. Murtles

    Rumour has it that it took this long to get the new pipe because [Redacted] has to stage a hostile takeover of the company that makes them *. I smell more “burst” pipes stories soon.

    *Rumour may be a figment of my paranoia.
    [I]Not just annoyed, paranoid.[/I]

    1. Sam

      There’s stiff competition for that title, in fairness.
      Have you seen the interview with that gobsh1te Brian Hayes in front of the Dáil gates after the cement truck hit them.
      He’s standing right in front of the gates, spouting on about “it is my understanding that the damage was substantial” and the interviewer suggested that he simply turn around and see for himself how minor the damage is, but he kept with the “my understanding is…” line, without the slightest display of shame at the ludicrous spectacle… made even better by the fact that what he thought was a microphone, was actually a black dildo on a stick held up to his face.

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