Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

The purpose of the amendment tabled by Sinn Féin is to ensure a set of agreed standards for septic tanks and treatment systems to inform the framing of the guidelines would be published. That is the key point.

I was visited at my clinic on Saturday last by a retired garda whose pension was his and his wife's sole source of income. They built their house on the outskirts of a town in my constituency in the 1970s. The house is located on a small site and they have had difficulties with their septic tank. As a result of various factors which I will not outline, the water table in the area has risen and the man in question was obliged to have, with the permission of the landowner, a percolation area outside his site. Major promises were made to this individual by previous Government Ministers who are no longer Members of the House to the effect that they would resolve the difficulties relating to his septic tank in the context of a Government-sponsored development that was to proceed nearby. However, this development has been scrapped because there is no money for it. The husband and wife to whom I refer are, to all intents and purposes, trapped.

We must take account of cases such as that I have outlined when passing legislation of this nature. The people concerned are in their mid-70s. They do not want to pollute the environment and I do not want them to do so. We must consider the position of people like them. We must also clearly outline the standards that will apply and put in place a system of grants in order that those who need to carry out works will be provided with assistance. Successive Governments have engaged in a fudge in respect of this matter since 1975. I know the party of which I am a member is criticised for many things. Nonetheless, it believes in trying to solve problems. We are at last trying to find a solution to the problem of septic tanks and all I am asking is that the Minister be up front in respect of the standards that will apply and cater for the needs of the elderly couple to whom I refer and others like them. We should put in place a scheme of grants-----

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