Permanent signs have been erected warning against drinking the water at Tipperary’s largest holy well.
The County Council says the water at St Patrick’s Well in Clonmel should not be consumed as it could be dangerous.
Don’t drink the water, don’t use it for washing and don’t use it for cooking.
That’s what the new signs at St Patrick’s Well are now telling visitors to the site.
Two of them have been put up in the last number of days – one greeting you as you reach the end of the long set of steps, and the other over by the spring itself.
Tipperary County Council says it could be detrimental to your health if you do consume it.
However, a local man who was at the well earlier today to fill his empty water bottles, told Tipp Fm it won’t deter him from drinking it:
“I’ve been coming here for four or five years drinking the water and I’ve never had a problem with it.
“I never heard anyone to have any problems or issues with it so I don’t know… it could be just some insurance cover or something like that.
“I think it was Thursday or Friday [the signs] went up.”
When asked why he likes to drink this water in particular, the man said he doesn’t like to drink tap water as he feels it affects his gums and teeth.
Warnings or no warnings, he won’t be deterred from drinking the spring water.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Tipperary County Council has told Tipp Fm News today that the action was taken after a complaint was made by a member of the public to the HSE.
The holy well is thought to date from about the fifth century, and it may have been used by St Patrick himself to bathe and baptise people.
However, more than 1600 years later, that’s no longer advisable.