By Róise Collins

A Donegal County Councillor has stressed the importance of reporting water outages promptly, after it emerged that hundreds of Gaeltacht students in Ranafast and surrounding areas were left without water over the weekend.

Cllr Michael McClafferty, who has been relentless in his calls for improved water infrastructure in west Donegal, said he was only made aware of the issue on Tuesday, after the situation had already been resolved.

The Cathaoirleach of the Glenties MD was contacted by a concerned local who claimed that over the weekend up to 300 students were left without access to basic sanitation, including the ability to shower.

A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann confirmed that a burst in the trunk mains supplying customers served by the Crolly Water Treatment Plant occurred last Friday evening, resulting in supply interruptions locally. Further repair work carried out on Monday led to additional disruptions.

“Full supply was restored to all customers on Monday evening,” the spokesperson said.

“We understand the inconvenience of an unplanned outage and we thank customers impacted for their support while our repair works were ongoing,” the spokesperson added.

Cllr McClafferty has called out those who were experiencing water outages this weekend and never reported it.

“There’s a knock-on effect when everyone assumes someone else is going to report the problem,” he added.

He said this impacts the efforts of local representatives who are fighting to get these issues addressed.

“Unless Irish Water feels pressure from the people impacted, these problems will continue to be ignored.”

Cllr McClafferty added that Coláiste Bhríde in Ranafast should have raised the issue publicly as this would help highlight the persistent infrastructure problems affecting rural communities.

The Donegal News contacted Coláiste Bhríde for comment, but no response had been received at the time of going to print.