Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses for the EPA here today. A lot of questions have been asked.
In the presentation by the director general, one item that strikes me as of great concern is that there are 162 urban wastewater treatment plants operating without licence. I understand these unlicensed plants were not built in the past year and some of them have been functioning nearly for decades. What I would like to know I can guess, but maybe they could spell it out. Is it because of resources on the part of EPA that it cannot process the licences or is it down to the chilling fact that these wastewater treatment plants are not up to scratch and are in desperate need of investment, which, I suppose, brings us into the debate of the raison d'êtreof Uisce Éireann, which, as the Senator clarified, is the title to be given to it?
Of the 162 wastewater treatment plants, how many of these wastewater treatment plants are in the charge of local authorities, how many are in industry and how many are public-private partnerships? How many of these wastewater treatment plants are discharging into special areas of conservation, SACs, natural heritage areas, NHAs, or other environmentally designated areas? It is happening in my county. Raw sewage is going into designated shellfish areas and special areas of conservation. Mr. O'Leary mentioned Donegal and Galway. The same can be said of Mayo. We are building our reputation on tourism - above all, of course, there is the people - and this is going into our waters and to our fish. The scale of it, and how long this has been going on, is of considerable concern. How many of those wastewater treatment plants pertain to my county, which is Mayo?
In terms of Irish Water, how many of these wastewater treatment plants are on the capital investment programme that has been laid out for the next two years? Have many of these been addressed and is that why the EPA hopes that they will be licensed by the end of the year? How many of these wastewater treatment plants are under warning and how long have these licences being pending? It is my understanding that some of them are pending for many years and it is a holding mechanism for them to be allowed to operate at a substandard level. I would appreciate clarification on that.
How many, where there are wastewater discharge licences, are not meeting the EPA's conditions on the level of discharge and the quality of treatment that is required for sewage?

Does the EPA require all wastewater treatment plants to have tertiary treatment as a minimum? Is that the EPA's aspiration? Ms Burke mentioned how many prosecutions are pending in the District Courts and in higher courts. How many local authorities are under warning from the EPA to get their act in order? That deals with the wastewater treatment plants.

The last time Dr. McGarry appeared before the committee it was for a presentation from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. It was very reassuring to have a body such as the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland protecting the public health interest. I was very impressed that day to hear of its activities.

One concern that prevails with the public relating to the monitoring of air quality for anything in the air that might be bad for us is non-ionising radiation. I know responsibility for that did not come under the remit of the RPII. The equivalent agencies in other countries looked at it, particularly from the point of view of electromagnetic field emissions from 400 kV power lines. Has the EPA studied this in any way? The EPA is not being asked to license these power lines. Can I, as an ordinary member of the public who does not particularly know anything about this, take assurance that it is not identified as an environmental risk from the EPA's point of view and consequently not a public health risk?

On climate change, the witnesses spoke about the need for zero fossil carbon emissions from the electricity sector. We have a big challenge in delivering infrastructure across the board. We have just spoken about the funding issue for wastewater treatment plants. There is considerable resistance to wind energy as part of this. It has been suggested that wind energy is a fraud because we need to import concrete and do all sorts of things meaning that wind energy is not the solution. I must temper my comments by saying that if I go to an area where people are opposed to wind turbines, they want biomass. If I go to an area where it is proposed to build a biomass wood-burning power plant, they favour wind energy.

Will the witnesses comment on the viability of wind energy and its desirability or otherwise in achieving our zero fossil carbon emission targets? How critical is it in that regard? What else could be suggested? What priority should be given to wind energy? Is the Government policy of giving priority to wind energy, as it does with the REFIT scheme, the way we should be going? With all issues of public health and concern over the direction we are taking, everything should be on the table for debate. I would appreciate hearing the views of the witnesses representing an independent expert body on the matter.