Residents in the newly built Mount Suir estate on the Carrickphierish Road are being forced to close their windows to protect their homes from clouds of black, noxious smoke from burning electrical cables.

The smoke, the result of electrical cable being burned in the vicinity, has been blamed on Travellers parked illegally along the Carrickphierish Road and this, coupled with the dumping of litter on the side of the road, is making life miserable for residents according to a local City Councillor.

“Since the new Carrickphierish Road opened there has been a steady stream of Travellers parking along the road illegally”, Cllr. Kelly told The Munster Express. “This is bad enough but a related issue is the constant dumping of rubbish / litter by the Travellers and also the burning of electrical cable in order to get at the copper wire inside.”

Cllr. Kelly said he had witnessed the fire brigade putting out fires lit by Travellers on a number of occasions, adding that residents in the area had appealed to him for help on the issue. “Only last week, during a nice sunny spell, black and possible toxic smoke from the burning of the electrical cable was blowing into their homes, through open windows. The residents told me the smell was terrible and they had to close their windows and doors. Also washing that was out drying had to be taken inside because of this smoke”.

The family of one young asthma sufferer have noted that the young boy requires his inhaler more often because of the smoke, Cllr. Kelly noted. “The parking of Travellers and the dumping is bad enough but the burning of the electrical cable is very dangerous and I believe it is a danger to the health of the new residents along the Carrickphierish Road.

“I know that the residents of Mount Suir have paid a lot of money for their new homes and face rising mortgage payments as interest rates increase constantly. The residents expect and deserve better than having to put up with this kind of thing on their doorsteps. I have contacted the City Council Roads and Environment departments to raise this very serious issue and see what can be done to resolve the situation. I have made a number of suggestions on what could be done and I’m hopeful of a positive response from council in the near future.

“The North West suburbs are the newest suburb of Waterford City and everything must be done to make it the model community we all would like to see there. The City Council has major plans for the whole area and the constant burning of rubbish in the area will not help in this regard.”