One Dublin City Councillor has said using water from the Shannon to provide for Dublin is not the same as “oil fracking”. 

The Shannon to Dublin water pipeline was first proposed by Dublin City Council in 2011 and would see 350 million litres of water a day taken from Lough Derg to Dublin and surrounding areas. 

Irish Water hopes to seek planning permission for this pipeline by the end of this year. 

Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn told The Hard Shoulder the plan would only take “a small percentage” of water from the Shannon. 

“It’s going to feed everybody along that particular way [to Dublin],” he said. 

“There’s proper environmental law here – if there’s an issue where it’s going to damage any part of the River Shannon, I would be the first to object. 

“We’re not extracting oil, we’re not fracking. 

“It's not going to cause a huge amount of damage – it's essential and it will provide a route and give water security to Dublin.” 

Cllr Flynn said Dubliners cannot rely on its water system forever. 

“In Dublin at the moment, if we have a heatwave, we’re doomed,” he said. 

“If there’s a heavy amount of rain, the water becomes contaminated.” 

Protecting the Shannon

River Shannon Protection Alliance (RSPA) member Donal Whelan, however, argued there are massive financial and environmental costs to the Shannon pipeline. 

“They’re taking €1.6 billion at the moment, but it could like the Children’s Hospital in Dublin and rise,” he said. 

“Dublin has an adequate supply of water... [the pipeline from the Shannon] is not really. 

“The only time Dublin would be low on water is because of severe drought.” 

Mr Whelan also pointed out that the pipeline would run through 500 farms, taking 50 metres of land while it’s being built and 25 metres thereafter. 

Cllr Flynn said the pipes in Dublin are “ancient and unreliable”. 

“The system is completely out of date,” he said. “What would happen with the water from the Shannon is it would give us security.” 

The RSPA has said the 173km pipeline is unnecessary when Irish Water could simply fix the existing pipes in Dublin. 

Listen back here: