The stinky saga of Kilcullen sewage

When two public meetings in the autumn of 1989 discussed the future of Kilcullen, one of the main issues was the need for an upgrade to the town's sewerage system, writes Brian Byrne.

It was an issue which had been 'on the books for a long time', the late Joe McTernan is quoted in a Leinster Leader report of the initial meeting, which is one of the clippings in the scrapbook 1986-1996 recently provided to the Diary by PJ Lydon. Then newly-arrived Bank of Ireland branch manager Dave Prendergast replied that it might be the case of 'those who shouted the loudest getting the fastest action'.

So when the Kilcullen Community Development committee was formed at the second meeting on 2 November 1989, the business of 'shouting loud about sewerage' was taken on by Brendan O'Connell. There was Kildare County Council official support for the matter from Senior Engineer Dick Burke, who said the extension and improvement of the system serving Kilcullen was 'essential' if the town was to develop its full potential following the upcoming opening of the by-pass.

More than a year later, the sewerage matter had not progressed, according to a 'more work to be done' report in the Leinster Leader of 11 January 1991. Towards the end of that same year, the only real action was the 'quick and quiet' removal of the long-inactive filter beds across the river from Kilcullen while the Council awaited Departmental approval for a £1.06 million scheme to link Kilcullen to the main county system. Those filter beds had been installed in the 1930s.

A report in the Kildare Nationalist by Jane Mullins headlined 'Kilcullen faces 1.5 years stink' noted the Council's acknowledgement that the town's situation was 'the worst in the county'.  Six weeks later, the Kildare Nationalist continued the subject, noting that the 'Hole in the ground' sewerage situation had caused the planning refusal for the building of 32 houses in Kilcullen. By April 1992, Kilcullen Community Development had also been told by the IDA that there would be no new industrial development in the town until the sewerage matter was dealt with. But there was a chink of optimism in a Leinster Leader story that the project had been approved by the Department and contracts could be drawn up for tender.

No tenders had been accepted by the week of 17 September 1992, when reporter Vicky Weller gave prominence in the Leinster Leader to the Hillis family on Hillside being 'forced out' of their home by water and sewage flooding, following a blockage further down the town during heavy rain. The story described the sewerage situation as 'a ticking time bomb'. The Nationalist headlined the incident as a 'Family flushed out by sewage'. A week previously, a business premises had been similarly flooded, according to another story. A letter from KCD subsequently appealed to the Council for the project not to be held up in its 'paper mountain'.

By January 1993, Brendan O'Connell acknowledged that the matter was further on than it had been two years before. But the report in the Leinster Leader quoted him saying Kilcullen was still 'like the horse in the Grand National which had jumped the first two fences, but still faced Beecher's Brook and had a long way to go'. Noel Clare, then chairman of KCD, observed that a new government was taking office, and 'further pressure must be brought to bear' by providing all the documentation to the incoming Minister for the Environment.

There's no further mention of the sewerage problem in PJ Lydon's scrapbook, which finishes in 1996. But in 1999, in an article on KildareNet News (KNN), I wrote that the new system was 'now being put in place' and would allow further development that was sorely needed for Kilcullen. The work had in fact begun in October 1998, with an expectation of completion by the end of 2001.

We were almost there, on the final straight having jumped the last fence of our own particular 'Grand National' effort. We did get to the finishing post, and that finally opened the way for the growth that has happened in the town over the last two decades.

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