AGM 2025
Lough Cumnel Group Water Scheme Co-operative Society Ltd.
Annual General Meeting
8:00pm, 12th June 2025
Killeen Community Centre
Draft minutes
Lough Cumnel Group Water Scheme Co-operative Society Ltd.
Annual General Meeting
8:00pm, 12th June 2025
Killeen Community Centre
Draft minutes
Present at AGM:
[redacted]
The chair Sal O'Malley opens the meeting and welcomes all.
Minutes:
The secretary reads out the minutes of the previous AGM in 2024.
The minutes are proposed by Majella. They are seconded by Patrick.
Chairperson's Address:
Sal delivers her chairperson address. She urges vigilance for leaks and wastage. The board needs more members interested in joining. She thanks various individuals who made a contribution to the running of the scheme.
Auditor's Report:
John O'Toole presents the account for 2024. There is an insignificant loss of €8k. The auditors have not found any issues.
Proposed by Francis and seconded by Patrick.
Managers’ Report:
Fiona presents the following managers' report:
In the last twelve months, Killeen Group Water Scheme has continued to deliver and worked tirelessly on improving the quality of water and service, delivered to customers and protecting our water supply and the environment. We have continued to do so by using all resources available to us in an effective and efficient manner.
It has been a busy twelve months with progress made on several issues.
Maintenance on the Scheme – Killeen GWS appreciate that ongoing maintenance and upgrade works are essential to ensure that the scheme continues to deliver a high quality water supply to its members. This maintenance programme is managed and implemented by Patrick O’Malley and Austin Francis O’Malley and focuses on leak prevention and detection.
We now have 13 remote loggers on the mains throughout the scheme which are monitored every morning. This is an increase of 3 in the last 12 months. As the network continues to deteriorate due to lack of national investment and unaccounted for water increase, these loggers are critical in trying to manage leakage on the network.
I monitor the loggers every morning and notify the reads to Austin Francis and Patrick Any variances in these lead to the team manually investigating what is the cause, this pro-active approach is essential in reducing wastage and improving conservation.
GlanNua –GlanNua continue to operate and maintain the plant on our behalf. We have an excellent working relationship with their team, and they produce monthly monitoring reports to us. Outside of these reports we are continuously raising issues on the replacement of the membranes at the plant and the variances in Chlorine readings on the network. We are members of the Local Monitoring Committee which consists of members of Mayo GWS and GlanNua, Austin Francis is chairman of this committee, and we both attend meetings on a bimonthly basis.
Chlorine Testing – We monitor the daily chlorine levels at the plant and carry out daily testing of chlorine levels at two domestic locations further down the scheme. This is carried out by Austin Francis O’Malley and Jackie Hedley to whom the scheme is extremely grateful. This allows is to ensure that the treatment of the supply is proper and sufficient.
National Federation of Group Water Schemes – The scheme uses the resources of the federation to ensure that the services we provide to our members achieve the highest standards in terms of water quality and consumer service. The Federation works in partnership with government departments, local authorities and other state and non-state stakeholders to deliver support services to us such as advice, mentoring and training.
Board members and staff have attended the national conference and various training courses.
Alternative Power at the Plant – The feasibility of this continued to be investigated, this is now a matter for consideration in the renewal of the contracts for running of the plant.
Community Water Development Fund – This fund supports community groups to enhance the quality of local streams, rivers, lakes and coastal areas. The scheme applied for funding and were successful in receiving funding for a hydrologist to conduct a yield assessment of Lough Cumnel in 2024, this survey was undertaken by Ryan Hanley and provides the basis for further conservation of our water source, through monitoring of the lake water levels and abstraction levels in line with national policy.
Water Refill Station – This scheme was enabled by a 100% department funded grant administered through the NFGWS. It has been a resounding success with regular usage. This is an excellent benefit to our community and is being used by locals and visitors alike, usage is monitored, as this connection is metered like all others on the scheme. As arranged by the NFGWS the refill station is now part of a maintenance schedule by Ecofil to ensure it is kept up to standard.
Multi Annual Rural Water Programme 2024 – 2026 – January 2024 saw the announcement of the long-awaited funding programme for Group Water Schemes. A new application was drafted and overseen by staff from Mayo County Council with an indication that Department approval would be issuing in late August 2024. 2024 saw approval of €40,000 towards source protection but no approval to date on the long-awaited capital funding for the network upgrades.
The proposed necessary upgrade works include:
Total grant aid payable, if successful, is €1,360,000 and the Local Contribution required on the full amount would be €240,000. The Board agreed in principle in 2024 that they would seek a Local Contribution of €200 per household as payment towards 15% of the capital costs, this letter is yet to issue to our members.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you the Board for your assistance and cooperation throughout the year in particular Austin Francis and Patrick, and I look forward to working with you all for the coming year
Deirdre from the NFGWS comments and commends the scheme for being well run. She also informs the meeting that the multi-annual funding decision is with the minister for sign-off. The issue of electricity generation by group schemes is being worked on.
Election of Members to the Board:
Ian Donaldson resigns from the board. The chair expresses gratitude on behalf of the scheme for his many years of service.
Ian Davidson is a candidate for the board. He is elected unanimously in a secret ballot.
Under the rules of the scheme Connie O'Driscoll and John D. Gartrell resigned from the board. There is a proposal to re-elect them by Majella and it is seconded by Francis.
Water Charges:
The board proposes to raise the water charges from €1.10 per m3 to €1.50 per cbm.
The rationale for this is the cost price of ~€5 per cbm and even if certain expenditure which is covered by subsidy was taken out of the calculation it is still around ~€2 per cbm. Government is countering any requests for more funding with the argument that group water schemes are giving away water below cost price. Killeen GWS needs to get its water charges closer to the cost price.
A member questions why holiday home owners get free while permanent members of the community have to pay for water. The explanation for this is in the legislation governing drinking water in Ireland. While Killeen GWS would love to introduce a standing charge which would mean everybody pays something, it is not allowed to do so by law or we would lose all subsidies. Also, every household receives 160 cbm of free water as per legislation.
€1.50 per cbm is proposed by Séamus and seconded by JD. It comes into effect with the next bill (early 2026).
A.O.B.
Majella proposes to retain O'Sullivans as auditors. Joe Cannon seconds.
The chair thanks everybody and closes the meeting at 20:55.
[redacted]
The chair Sal O'Malley opens the meeting and welcomes all.
Minutes:
The secretary reads out the minutes of the previous AGM in 2024.
The minutes are proposed by Majella. They are seconded by Patrick.
Chairperson's Address:
Sal delivers her chairperson address. She urges vigilance for leaks and wastage. The board needs more members interested in joining. She thanks various individuals who made a contribution to the running of the scheme.
Auditor's Report:
John O'Toole presents the account for 2024. There is an insignificant loss of €8k. The auditors have not found any issues.
Proposed by Francis and seconded by Patrick.
Managers’ Report:
Fiona presents the following managers' report:
In the last twelve months, Killeen Group Water Scheme has continued to deliver and worked tirelessly on improving the quality of water and service, delivered to customers and protecting our water supply and the environment. We have continued to do so by using all resources available to us in an effective and efficient manner.
It has been a busy twelve months with progress made on several issues.
Maintenance on the Scheme – Killeen GWS appreciate that ongoing maintenance and upgrade works are essential to ensure that the scheme continues to deliver a high quality water supply to its members. This maintenance programme is managed and implemented by Patrick O’Malley and Austin Francis O’Malley and focuses on leak prevention and detection.
We now have 13 remote loggers on the mains throughout the scheme which are monitored every morning. This is an increase of 3 in the last 12 months. As the network continues to deteriorate due to lack of national investment and unaccounted for water increase, these loggers are critical in trying to manage leakage on the network.
I monitor the loggers every morning and notify the reads to Austin Francis and Patrick Any variances in these lead to the team manually investigating what is the cause, this pro-active approach is essential in reducing wastage and improving conservation.
GlanNua –GlanNua continue to operate and maintain the plant on our behalf. We have an excellent working relationship with their team, and they produce monthly monitoring reports to us. Outside of these reports we are continuously raising issues on the replacement of the membranes at the plant and the variances in Chlorine readings on the network. We are members of the Local Monitoring Committee which consists of members of Mayo GWS and GlanNua, Austin Francis is chairman of this committee, and we both attend meetings on a bimonthly basis.
Chlorine Testing – We monitor the daily chlorine levels at the plant and carry out daily testing of chlorine levels at two domestic locations further down the scheme. This is carried out by Austin Francis O’Malley and Jackie Hedley to whom the scheme is extremely grateful. This allows is to ensure that the treatment of the supply is proper and sufficient.
National Federation of Group Water Schemes – The scheme uses the resources of the federation to ensure that the services we provide to our members achieve the highest standards in terms of water quality and consumer service. The Federation works in partnership with government departments, local authorities and other state and non-state stakeholders to deliver support services to us such as advice, mentoring and training.
Board members and staff have attended the national conference and various training courses.
Alternative Power at the Plant – The feasibility of this continued to be investigated, this is now a matter for consideration in the renewal of the contracts for running of the plant.
Community Water Development Fund – This fund supports community groups to enhance the quality of local streams, rivers, lakes and coastal areas. The scheme applied for funding and were successful in receiving funding for a hydrologist to conduct a yield assessment of Lough Cumnel in 2024, this survey was undertaken by Ryan Hanley and provides the basis for further conservation of our water source, through monitoring of the lake water levels and abstraction levels in line with national policy.
Water Refill Station – This scheme was enabled by a 100% department funded grant administered through the NFGWS. It has been a resounding success with regular usage. This is an excellent benefit to our community and is being used by locals and visitors alike, usage is monitored, as this connection is metered like all others on the scheme. As arranged by the NFGWS the refill station is now part of a maintenance schedule by Ecofil to ensure it is kept up to standard.
Multi Annual Rural Water Programme 2024 – 2026 – January 2024 saw the announcement of the long-awaited funding programme for Group Water Schemes. A new application was drafted and overseen by staff from Mayo County Council with an indication that Department approval would be issuing in late August 2024. 2024 saw approval of €40,000 towards source protection but no approval to date on the long-awaited capital funding for the network upgrades.
The proposed necessary upgrade works include:
- Replacement of almost 10km of 6” watermain
- Replacement of undersized watermains
- Replacement of existing consumer meters
- Installation of additional bulk meters
- Installation of additional scour valves
- Installation of fire hydrants
Total grant aid payable, if successful, is €1,360,000 and the Local Contribution required on the full amount would be €240,000. The Board agreed in principle in 2024 that they would seek a Local Contribution of €200 per household as payment towards 15% of the capital costs, this letter is yet to issue to our members.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you the Board for your assistance and cooperation throughout the year in particular Austin Francis and Patrick, and I look forward to working with you all for the coming year
Deirdre from the NFGWS comments and commends the scheme for being well run. She also informs the meeting that the multi-annual funding decision is with the minister for sign-off. The issue of electricity generation by group schemes is being worked on.
Election of Members to the Board:
Ian Donaldson resigns from the board. The chair expresses gratitude on behalf of the scheme for his many years of service.
Ian Davidson is a candidate for the board. He is elected unanimously in a secret ballot.
Under the rules of the scheme Connie O'Driscoll and John D. Gartrell resigned from the board. There is a proposal to re-elect them by Majella and it is seconded by Francis.
Water Charges:
The board proposes to raise the water charges from €1.10 per m3 to €1.50 per cbm.
The rationale for this is the cost price of ~€5 per cbm and even if certain expenditure which is covered by subsidy was taken out of the calculation it is still around ~€2 per cbm. Government is countering any requests for more funding with the argument that group water schemes are giving away water below cost price. Killeen GWS needs to get its water charges closer to the cost price.
A member questions why holiday home owners get free while permanent members of the community have to pay for water. The explanation for this is in the legislation governing drinking water in Ireland. While Killeen GWS would love to introduce a standing charge which would mean everybody pays something, it is not allowed to do so by law or we would lose all subsidies. Also, every household receives 160 cbm of free water as per legislation.
€1.50 per cbm is proposed by Séamus and seconded by JD. It comes into effect with the next bill (early 2026).
A.O.B.
Majella proposes to retain O'Sullivans as auditors. Joe Cannon seconds.
The chair thanks everybody and closes the meeting at 20:55.