Residents 'cannot wash their clothes' in these Kildare towns due to failing water infrastructure

A Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North has told the Dáil that residents of three Kildare towns do not have “enough water to live with dignity”, due to failing and aged water infrastructure.

Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil told the House on Wednesday, June 11 that the towns of Celbridge, Leixlip and Maynooth are worst affected in the district, with many residents not having enough water to meet basic household needs.

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Deputy Ó Cearúil said: “For far too long, families in estates such as Primrose Hill, Temple Manor and The Grove in Celbridge have been forced to endure weekend after weekend of drastically reduced water pressure. Constituents have told me they cannot wash their clothes, boil a kettle, flush their toilets or even shower on Saturdays and Sundays.

“One resident described it plainly: 'We don't have enough water to live with dignity.'”

Deputy Ó Cearúil stressed that this is not “an isolated incident” - it is, he said, the direct result of an ageing and inadequate water network that is “simply no longer fit for purpose in one of the fastest-growing parts of the country.”

Residents, he said, are being asked to conserve water when in reality, many of them do not even have enough water to meet their basic household needs.

He added: “Uisce Éireann announced in April that it would begin vital works between Newcastle and Celbridge under its national leakage reduction programme. It committed to starting site investigations within two weeks, but those works did not commence.

“Our office had to chase it repeatedly without reply. It was only in mid-May that we learned it had not even secured a road-opening licence to carry out the works. That kind of delay is simply unacceptable, and that service to the public is shocking.”

In Celbridge, the Fianna Fáil TD pointed out, some households were left without water for up to ten days in 2024.

In Leixlip, planned mains rehabilitation was announced but never commenced, and in March 2025, Uisce Éireann itself admitted that Kildare’s water supply was “on a knife edge.”

He said: “More houses are being built in Kildare. Communities are growing, families are moving in, but the essential infrastructure is not keeping pace. The people of Kildare North deserve the same level of basic service as anyone else in this country.

“I request that the Minister of State urgently speak with Uisce Éireann directly to ensure there is transparency, clear timelines and accelerated delivery of infrastructure in Kildare North.

“We need proper investment in water infrastructure now; not in two years, not when the pipes burst, but today.”