The Connemara village of Carraroe is at the centre of another dispute over the quality of its drinking water, following an alert issued by Galway County Council.
The local authority has asked residents to boil all drinking water for the next few days "as a precaution", due to "work" on the chlorination equipment.
It says that the notice will be lifted once it has taken samples over three consecutive days which show the water is not contaminated.
However, Mr Seosamh Ó Cuaig, a member of Údarás na Gaeltachta and representative of Coiste Uisce na Ceathrun, has called for an independent investigation into the water supply, and for provision of alternative water for Carraroe until the current scheme is improved. He has also criticised the local authority for waiting four days before informing residents that the chlorine equipment was not functioning.
Mr Ó Cuaig said that he understood that the equipment had failed last Monday, February 23rd, but the notice asking people to boil water was not issued until after 5 p.m. on Thursday last.
The local authority says that work on the equipment caused a fluctuation in the levels of residual chlorine in the water.
It says that the raw water source in Loch a Mhuillinn showed "a very high quality" in tests carried out last week, and the first of three days of testing on February 26th recorded no coliforms and no faecal coliforms.
Serious concern about the quality of Carraroe's drinking water supply has been expressed by residents over a number of years - most recently after heavy rain caused an overflow of sewage.
Galway County Council denied that the water supply had been contaminated. However, residents travelled to Spiddal and Rossaveal for alternative supplies.
The quality of the Carraroe supply has already been raised at European level, with the scheme being cited as one of a number breaching the drinking water directive in a European Court of Justice ruling against Ireland in November 2002.
The European Parliament's petitions committee also highlighted Carraroe in a report last year on the State's compliance with the drinking water directive.
