Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

I can say that we had a legal person there to go through the content of the legislation. It was done absolutely accurately. What is in the legislation is quite frightening. It is the implementation of the legislation and the standards being put forward by the Minister that people are examining. That is what we need to see.

I am aware of single rural cottages put in by the county councils. I worked on the buildings one time doing subfloors and foundations. I have seen county councils putting in single rural cottages. They put in the septic tank without any soakaway, and the overflow in the septic tank goes straight into the drainage and by extension, into the watercourse. There is no hope of percolation in such cases, so that is a huge problem. I know of other houses built with 65 feet frontage, so they have no hope whatsoever to keep the soakaway and the septic tank away from the boundaries. I am aware of septic tanks and soakaways put in to adjoining property because the site was too small. I remember quarter acre sites going back to the 1960s, perhaps even smaller. These will cause huge problems. There are fears out there and we are only articulating them here.

Comments were made about the registration fee. I would not care if it cost nothing, not to mind €20. It is all there. Every person who got planning permission since 1975 is registered with their respective county councils. I go back regularly for people to check things out. The big issue is the cost factor. I accept that remedial works have to be carried out, but if people were compliant with the standards applicable in their day but now they find for whatever reason they are not compliant with new standards to be published by the Minister, this means they will have to spend a lot of money to get it right. Is the Minister telling me that if there is no percolation, people will not have to spend money?

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