A meeting is to take place between Irish Water representatives and members of Athlone Municipal District later this month to discuss a major wastewater scheme for the town.
The scheme costing €114 million was announced by Irish Water in recent weeks but councillors have been critical of the lack of engagement on the impact of the works.
It hasn't been revealed how long the project will take and Councillor Aengus O'Rourke says given the huge scale of the works, and the impact it was likely to have for residents and visitors to the town, he was very disappointed when Irish Water offered to only have an online Zoom meeting about it.
The matter was discussed again at a meeting of the council this week when it was revealed that some areas of Burgess Park are to be closed so they can be used for depots during the works.
Speaking on the Let's Talk show this afternoon the Westmeath Council Cathaoirleach says he's very happy to have been contacted today by Irish Water who've agreed to a meeting with councillor shortly to discuss the project.
"To many people Irish Water are a faceless organisation. We don't get to see them. Who are they? How do we contact them? I'm happy that they've at least agreed to a meeting and they've also agreed for us to visit the site in Burgess Park to see exactly what's happening but the next phase of this is I will want them to present to the public. Maybe in the Prince of Wales Hotel or the Sheraton or the Radisson, take out a room for two or three hours, invite the public in and present to them what's going to happen over the next number of years".
