![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Andrew-W-133x133.png\")
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\n Andrew Walsh<\/p>\n
BUSINESSES IN LEIXLIP say frequent water outages are costing them thousands in lost trade, forcing caf\u00e9s to stockpile water and leaving hairdressers boiling kettles to finish washing customers\u2019 hair.<\/p>\n
The Co Kildare town has been hit by a string of outages in recent months, including three separate disruptions in just over one week in September.<\/p>\n
Kate Luan Collins, who owns Willow and Wild coffee shops in Leixlip and Maynooth, told The Journal that her Leixlip premises now keeps four 20-litre drums of water in its shed because of the frequency of the problem.<\/p>\n
Even that is not enough to allow the caf\u00e9 to remain open when its supply goes. \u201cIf the water goes, we close,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_20261002_165256_830\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791110535_852_.jpeg\")
\n Willow and Wild coffee shop in Leixlip. Willow and Wild<\/p>\n
Willow and Wild\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t have hot water, you can\u2019t sanitise dishes, you can\u2019t clean.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stored water instead allows staff to safely clean down the kitchen if supply disappears in the middle of service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we actually have to stockpile water, and that\u2019s not to stay open, that\u2019s just enough to boil to actually clean and close our kitchen properly,\u201d Collins said.\n<\/p>\n
In this day and age, we\u2019re stockpiling water. It\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n
Willow and Wild was disrupted on three trading days last month, including two Sundays when Collins said the caf\u00e9 had to close at around midday, cutting short one of its busiest trading days.<\/p>\n
The third outage did not result in a full closure, but Collins said the business still made a loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was 100% at a loss last week,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur margins are so tight that everything I do is on my forecasting for a normal week. So when I don\u2019t get to have my normal week, it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lost takings, wasted fresh food and reduced hours for staff all add to the cost, while Collins said the unpredictability makes staffing and food orders difficult to plan.<\/p>\n
She also said she sometimes receives several Uisce \u00c9ireann alerts without losing supply, while on other occasions the water has gone without her receiving one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was certain that when I get a text that says there is a planned outage on this day, well then I know not to put staff on. I know not to put in an order,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to open and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins has also lodged a formal complaint with Uisce \u00c9ireann over the outages. In its response, seen by The Journal, the utility noted that she had reported being forced to close the coffee shop six times this year.<\/p>\n
\u2018Washed my hair with a cup\u2019<\/p>\n
A short distance away, Black Angel hair salon owner Orla Kinsella has developed her own contingency plan for when the taps run dry.<\/p>\n
The salon has a water tank which staff ration when supply is lost, prioritising customers in the middle of treatments.<\/p>\n
If it runs out, staff have had to buy bottled water, boil kettles and use cups to rinse clients\u2019 hair.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had to cancel clients,\u201d Kinsella said.<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791110536_150_.png\")
\n Black Angel hair salon in Leixlip.\n<\/p>\n
Some customers can wash their hair at home before returning to the salon, while others have been able to leave with colour still in their hair and wash it out themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll ring the clients and say, \u2018Do you have water at home?\u2019\u201d Kinsella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s a colour that they can leave the salon with, I\u2019ll say, \u2018Go home and shampoo it yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest problem I\u2019m finding with it is you\u2019ll get a client that will tell someone, \u2018They washed my hair with a cup\u2019, or, \u2018They only gave me one shampoo\u2019,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t tell anyone my salon actually stayed open and tried to do a service.<\/p>\n
Kinsella said staff have become increasingly frustrated with the disruption and, if she has to close and send them home, she still has to pay them.<\/p>\n
She estimated that the salon is directly affected around three times a year.<\/p>\n
Repeated bursts<\/p>\n
The recent problems form part of a longer-running pattern of outages in Leixlip and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
Uisce \u00c9ireann confirmed major bursts affecting customers in Leixlip, Maynooth and Celbridge on several occasions this summer.<\/p>\n
A burst on the R148 Maynooth Road outside Leixlip disrupted supply on 20 September.<\/p>\n
One week later, another major burst occurred on the same road, with Uisce \u00c9ireann apologising for what it described as a \u201csecond burst in the area in the space of one week\u201d.<\/p>\n
There was also disruption in Leixlip on 23 September, when Uisce \u00c9ireann\u2019s service records listed hydrant repair works in the town.<\/p>\n
One Leixlip resident showed The Journal 17 text messages received from Uisce \u00c9ireann since April relating to supply issues in the area (individual alerts don\u2019t necessarily mean every customer covered lost water).<\/p>\n
![\"uisce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791110536_117_.jpeg\")
\n Numerous water outages have been recorded in Leixlip so far this year. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n
Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n
Frustration has also spilled over onto local social media groups, where residents have been encouraged to lodge formal complaints with Uisce \u00c9ireann and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.<\/p>\n
A template shared in a Leixlip Facebook group last week called for figures on outages and burst mains over the past five years and questioned whether the network has sufficient capacity for future residential and industrial demand.<\/p>\n
In a response to a formal complaint from Collins, Uisce \u00c9ireann acknowledged that its \u201clarge and ageing\u201d network is at times \u201cstretched to meet demand\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018It just needs to be replaced\u2019<\/p>\n
Kildare North Fine Gael TD Joe Neville, who lives in Leixlip and has repeatedly raised the issue in the D\u00e1il, met Uisce \u00c9ireann representatives this week.<\/p>\n
Neville is pushing for the replacement of a major water main serving the area to be included in Uisce \u00c9ireann\u2019s capital investment plans.<\/p>\n
He said the 450mm main, which carries water from the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant towards Maynooth and feeds other parts of the local network, is around five decades old.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat pipe then is the one that\u2019s continuing to burst,\u201d Neville said.<\/p>\n
He said Uisce \u00c9ireann is carrying out pressure assessments to investigate what may be contributing to the bursts.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no benefit in waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just has to be done because ultimately\u2026 that pipe just needs to be replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neville said he came away from this week\u2019s meeting more optimistic that the replacement would be included in Uisce \u00c9ireann\u2019s capital programme, although he acknowledged it would be a major project.<\/p>\n
He said the existing situation could be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d for local businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t be sure that you can open your business and you can\u2019t guarantee your customers and even guarantee your staff that you can be open, that really puts your business in a really difficult position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Neville previously raised the issue in the D\u00e1il in June, when he cited outages in April and June, including one which resulted in pupils at Confey Community College being sent home.<\/p>\n
\u2018Stop putting a plaster on it\u2019<\/p>\n
Local councillor Nuala Killeen said frustration in the town has now reached a \u201ccrescendo\u201d.<\/p>\n
Killeen is seeking proposals for a business reimbursement scheme and a firm timeline for upgrading the infrastructure when Uisce \u00c9ireann appears before Kildare County Council in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses can\u2019t plan around a water supply that keeps failing,\u201d Killeen said.<\/p>\n
Killeen said Uisce \u00c9ireann\u2019s communication around individual incidents has improved and stressed that she did not blame crews carrying out emergency repairs.<\/p>\n
But she said repeatedly fixing individual failures was no longer sufficient.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to stop putting a plaster on a failing main and call it a repair,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Killeen also questioned the cumulative cost of repeatedly repairing the main and carrying out associated road remediation, arguing that it should strengthen the case for permanent works.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times does it have to go before Uisce \u00c9ireann accepts that it needs to be replaced?\u201d Killeen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe patience, the goodwill and the patience have expired.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no apathy. There\u2019s just anger.<\/p>\n
For Collins, the solution is similarly straightforward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want a proper plan,\u201d the coffee shop owner said.<\/p>\n
She also wants financial support considered for small businesses repeatedly forced to shut.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d she said of losing a day\u2019s trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no compensation. And your insurance doesn\u2019t cover it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to The Journal, Uisce \u00c9ireann said it understood the \u201cconcern and disruption\u201d caused by recent outages, which it said were primarily the result of burst water mains.<\/p>\n
The utility said it is prioritising improvements to a 4.2km stretch of water main between Leixlip Pump Station and Blakestown, \u201cparts of which are up to 50 years old\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said longer-term investment would \u201cstrengthen the network, improve the reliability of supply and provide greater resilience for local communities\u201d, including 1.2km of new water main along Station Road and work aimed at reducing pressure fluctuations.<\/p>\n
The programme is currently going through the design and approvals process. Uisce \u00c9ireann did not provide a timeline for when the works would be completed.<\/p>\n
Are you a small business owner elsewhere in Ireland who has been impacted by water outages or supply issues? Let us know at andrew.walsh@thejournal.ie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Walsh BUSINESSES IN LEIXLIP say frequent water outages are costing them thousands in lost trade, forcing caf\u00e9s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[273612,61,60,178909,3770,57367,43,273613,273614,6462,776,273615,273616],"class_list":["post-644432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-black-angel","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-joe-neville","tag-kildare","tag-leixlip","tag-news","tag-nuala-killeen","tag-rinse-and-repeat","tag-small-business","tag-uisce-eireann","tag-water-outage","tag-willow-and-wild"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}