Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this amendment and I note this issue arose on Committee Stage. At the outset, I acknowledge all Members want people to have access to clean, safe water when they turn on their taps and the Minister is committed to doing this. Much of the debate on Committee Stage pertained to the void that exists with regard to the statutory instrument and the standards that will be introduced. I do not dispute the Minister's comments on Committee Stage in respect of the standards that will be introduced on foot of this legislation and I believe they were made in good faith. However, my concern is that once the primary legislation has been enacted, the Minister's own objectives will end up being watered down within the Department or on foot of decisions made by the European Commission. The best example in this regard relates to legislation introduced to this House a number of years ago by the current President, Michael D. Higgins, on special protection areas. Both at the time and subsequently, the then Minister made it clear he was banning the use of sausage machines on bogs nationwide but large tracts of land have been sterilised on foot of that legislation.

Consequently, it is important that Members should have sight of the aforementioned statutory instruments, which should be debated on the floor of the Chamber. Moreover, there is precedent in this regard. I refer to the legislation pertaining to Aer Lingus, with which the Acting Chairman is familiar. During its passage through this House, the then Minister, Seamus Brennan, included an amendment specifying the need, even on enactment of that legislation, for a positive affirmation of the disposal of Aer Lingus. Precedent also exists in respect of planning regulations, some of which require the approval of this House and the Upper House before they can be enacted. I ask the Minister to include an amendment in this Bill to allow for the statutory instrument to be debated in this House. The Minister should clarify the issues that are being raised at present and should then allow for the enactment of the statutory instrument through the positive approval of the House.

The Minister's proposals in respect of consultation on the regulations are highly positive and will clarify many of the issues and concerns expressed by the public. However, given this consultation will take place and given the Minister's clear view as expressed on Committee Stage regarding the type of regulation he wishes to put in place, he has nothing to fear by including an amendment in this Bill to allow the House to debate the aforementioned statutory instruments and vote approval of them, rather than the current mechanism whereby they must be rescinded within 21 days, which is not an effective tool with which to deal with legislation that can have a far-reaching impact in the short to medium term.

Another point in respect of these regulations is that they will deal with the retrofitting standards. The regulatory impact assessment has shown that in some extreme cases, families could face a cost of up to €17,500 to retrofit their septic tanks. While the Minister mentioned the issue of grants on Committee Stage, he should clarify for Members that no family will be put under undue financial hardship by any regulations that will be introduced on foot of this legislation. He should clarify that in such circumstances, grants will be made available to families to prevent them from experiencing financial hardship when addressing such significant costs. There is strong justification for so doing when one considers the funding that has been put in place for villages, towns and cities to upgrade their sewage treatment facilities and because a significant proportion of the moneys used in this way would revert quickly to the Exchequer through VAT, tax and so on.

Another concern with the regulations pertains to the sludge timebomb as I do not believe local authorities have the requisite desludging capacity at present. First, the frequency with which people will be obliged to desludge their septic tanks is not known. Similarly, the locations of the desludging treatment facilities are not known but significant transport costs will be incurred in consequence. It was suggested on Committee Stage that the requisite capacity to deal with sludge is not available in County Galway. This would mean it would be necessary to transfer such sludge to County Roscommon for treatment and for someone from the west of County Galway, so doing would entail a massive transport cost in addition to the associated treatment cost.

The final point I wish to make regarding these regulations is that in many cases, it is feasible for rural householders on those farms on which thousands of euro have been spent to install slatted tanks to divert the effluent from their toilet facilities into the slatted tanks. This would comply with the current regulations in respect of land spreading and so on because of the dilution factor that is involved. In his response, the Minister should clarify whether the future regulations could inhibit the possibility of landowners using this mechanism, rather than being obliged to operate what might be substandard septic tanks. This mechanism would provide a significant solution for many homeowners in rural Ireland, on top of the Minister's commitment to review the group sewerage grant scheme, which in itself would remove a significant cohort of people from the ambit of this Bill. The Minister should consider this issue and I again urge him either to publish the regulations or to amend the legislation to allow for a positive vote of this House, following a proper and full discussion of the statutory instrument, which would allay a great number of the fears that exist at present.

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