TRADESMEN in days of yore had a simple rule-of-thumb that told them when they neared the end of their welcome. When the dogs of their current employer stopped barking at them — as they turned up for work — it was time to be gathering the traps in earnest.

The dogs on Tralee Road have stopped barking at the Kerry County Council water pipe repairmen a long time ago. You can count their more recent visits by the patchwork appearance of the rectangles of tar on the stretch from Lidl inwards. The latest visit coincided with the arrival of the full moon on Monday morning and in the wake of a bad burst on Sunday night which threatened to flood a few of the houses in the area.

"The RTE cameras that were filming in town a few weeks ago should have gone to the Tralee Road to capture what's going on," one irate resident said on Monday morning as the water supply was cut off again. This time the leak occurred just 14 yards away from the burst that was repaired two weeks ago. However, this time the burst happened on a section where there is no raised footpath. On Sunday night at 10pm the surging water came very close for at least two anxious householders. On Monday they were effectively imprisoned in their own homes by council machinery and barriers and subjected to an intolerable level of noise.

They are not the only people affected. At least four or five businesses have once again been deprived of water and a number of them are dependent on that supply.

"Why should we pay rates to a council that can't even provide us with the most basic service of all? It's not as if this came out of the blue. They have known for at least two years that there is a serious problem and this is the seventh time that the supply has been cut off.

"No one blames the council workers on site - they are only carrying out their instructions. But there are officers at executive level who must know that this 'sticking plaster' approach is a complete nonsense. They know that the section of old piping from the Lidl Supermarket to Mike Roche's garage is rotten and must be replaced in its entirety. Why not do the job now once and for all or will business people and residents just wait for another couple of weeks before there is another burst and another disconnection of service.

"As of Monday afternoon - apart from an announcement on Kerry radio the council had made no effort to inform people on the road what the nature of the problem was and when they can expect resumption of service," said the clearly upset resident.

An on the ball Labour Cllr. Marie Moloney reacted swiftly on Monday morning and sent the following message from her Killarney base: 'Further disruption to water supply causing havoc among business people'

She opened: "Further disruption to the water supply to businesses and householders on Sunday night and all day Monday is causing havoc for business people in the Tralee Road area of Castleisland and indeed for the many householders in the area," according to Labour Party Councillor, Marie Moloney.

"Following on from my prior representations on the matter, I was speaking with Oliver Ring of Kerry County Council who advised me that application has been made to the Department of the Environment for funding to replace the existing pipes.

"While Kerry County Council water services react quickly to repairing the burst pipes, it is not a quick fix that is needed in this location but permanent resolution to the problem" said Councillor Moloney.

"On this occasion the problem was exacerbated by the fact that the burst pipe occurred where there were no raised footpaths thus endangering the houses in the locality of flooding as the water was veered towards doorways"

"I have asked Mr Ring to send a letter from Kerry County Council to the Department reiterating how serious the situation has got and requesting that funding by made available immediately to rectify the problem permanently as this is causing major inconvenience to businesses and householders at the peak on the summer season."

For further details contact Marie Moloney on (086) 3049422.

- John Reidy's Contact John Reidy Phone: 066 7142310/087 2359467 email: mreidy@eircom.net website: www.reidypix.com