John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Under the Water Pollution Acts 1977 and 1990 it is an offence to permit polluting matters to enter waters. The Acts require that discharges of trade effluent to waters or to sewers are licensed by local authorities. In granting a licence, the local authority may attach such conditions as it considers appropriate, for example, covering the nature, composition and volume of discharges.

In addition, regulations made in 2009 and earlier this year as part of the ongoing implementation of the Water Framework Directive establish environmental quality standards and environmental objectives for surface waters and groundwater across a range of substances. Local authorities are required to have regard to these when licensing discharges of trade effluents to waters. Under the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2010 and the associated regulations, all development commenced on or after 1 October 1964 requires planning permission unless specifically exempted. Section 4(1) of the Act, and Article 6 and Schedule 2 of the Regulations, set out certain broad categories of development that are exempted from the requirement to obtain planning permission. There is no specific exemption for car wash facilities.