Mr. Percy Foster:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to talk to him, Deputies and Senators about the management of sewage sludge in Ireland. It gives our association the opportunity to highlight the need for certain legislative changes we believe would improve the way sewage sludge is managed and protect our food safety record. This is an important topic as it affects our environmental sustainability as well as our food production and marketing. I am accompanied today by a colleague, Mr. Maurice Cremin, who will also be a witness.
In 2008, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland published a report on the management of organic materials going onto land in Ireland. On pages 18 to 21 of this report, it examined the management of sewage sludge in Ireland. The report outlined that the Food Safety Authority of Ireland had concerns about food safety. These were based on a number of exemptions provided for in the Waste Management (Use of Sewage Sludge in Agriculture) Regulations. The authority, in its report, made a number of recommendations and got commitments from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to make legislative changes to help protect food safety in Ireland.
Five years later in 2013, Cré decided to examine the current state of play on the management of sewage sludge. We compared the findings and recommendations of the 2008 Food Safety Authority of Ireland report to the current situation. Cré determined the facts by sending a survey to local authorities using the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007. The results of this survey were collated and formed the content of the Créreport, The Management of Sewage Sludge in Ireland, which I have provided to this committee.
The main results from the 2013 Cré report were: the vast majority of local authorities were making it a requirement in contracts that sludge is managed according to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's Code of Good Practice for the Use of Biosolids in Agriculture; five local authorities did not make the code of good practice a requirement - a further local authority said it made the code of good practice a requirement but was using the exemption in the legislation to spread the sludge untreated onto land; and approximately 23,793 wet tonnes of untreated sludge were land spread in Ireland in 2012. In addition to this figure, one local authority reported that it land-spread untreated sludge but the figure was provided in cubic metres and could not be included in the tonnage figure.
Cré has reviewed the management of sewage sludge in Ireland and is making the following recommendations: the Code of Good Practice for the Use of Biosolids in Agriculture should be put on a legislative footing; and a number of exemptions and provisions in the current regulations should be removed as they conflict with the code of good practice and give rise to food safety concerns.
Specific examples of the legislative changes required include: the regulations should be changed to prevent untreated sludge being land spread or injected into the soil; the regulations should be changed to prevent untreated residual sludge from septic tanks being land spread; the regulations should be changed to remove the exemption for wastewater treatment plants with fewer than 5,000 population equivalents; and in regard to section 51 of the Waste Management Act, lime stabilisation plants are exempt from a waste permit-licence if sludge goes onto agriculture land but this should be changed.
It should be noted that Cré's recommendations are aligned with those in the Food Safety Authority of Ireland report of 2008, which I mentioned earlier. In its report, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland outlined the commitment the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government gave to it that a limited revision of the regulations would be provided. This revision has not been carried out to date.
In its end of year report, Bord Bia valued Ireland's food and drinks exports at €10 billion, which is a major achievement and is worth protecting. The application of raw sewage sludge on land has the potential to put this in jeopardy. Cré believes the situation needs to be addressed now by the legislative changes outlined. This issue could easily become the next horse meat scandal.
I thank the Chairman, Deputies and Senators for providing us with the opportunity to present an update on the management of sewage sludge in Ireland.

I thank Mr. Foster.