Galway water services may suffer in cutback

Cutbacks suggested by Galway county council could have a huge effect on services such as water and sewage, Galway News has claimed.


In a letter to staff, the council has said that it is attempting to make cut backs of €1.8 million in its payroll, also possibly leading to job cuts.

However, the Galway News reports that unions in the region are threatening to resist the moves and claim that any further reduction in services would be crippling.

The likes of falling trees would not be dealt with and even the provision of water would suffer problems.

Earlier this week, Martina Malony, a county manager, issued a circular claiming that there had been an overspend of €3 million on water services during 2008, meaning that the local authority budget would have to decrease by €2.5 million.

In 2008 Galway suffered a water crisis that meant all residents were drinking water that contained high levels of lead.

Commeting at the time, Minister John Gormley claimed that it was “totally unacceptable” that people had to drink water with a high lead content.

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