Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

My first point follows logically from the discussion we have just had. I do not want to anticipate the discussion we will have on amendment No. 2, which we have strayed into in a way.

Amendment No. 1 in the name of the Minister speaks of co-operation between Departments and also takes cognisance of previous legislation arising from planning and development matters. It makes a specific reference to the Fisheries Acts. Responding to Question No. 974 on 24 April 2007, the Minister in a written reply stated:

Statutory responsibility for protection and improvement of water quality is assigned primarily to local authorities acting under the general supervision of the EPA. Lough Corrib lies within the western river basin district as designated under the EU water framework directive and Galway County Council is the co-ordinating local authority for this district.

Later in the reply the Minister stated:

A framework for co-ordination of water management actions by all relevant public authorities within each river basin district has been established for the implementation of the water framework directive. All relevant public authorities, including Government Departments, are participating in these arrangements which will lead to the adoption by 2009 of river basin management plans for each district.

It is to this I wish to refer. Leaving the Corrib's management plan or system to 2009 is singularly imprudent. In 2004 I attended meetings which, to be frank, should have brought public support for what we identified in November 2004. Earlier in that year there had been a kill in the Owenriff river.

In 2004 I spoke in Oughterard, suggesting there were more than four or five sources of pollution. These included some agricultural practices, as well as insufficient sewerage in Oughterard and Moycullen. Other sources were tree-felling practices, although not forestry, and these may have been related to the loss of the freshwater pearl mussel in the Owenriff river. Insufficient care in inspecting septic tanks was also a contributory factor, as was the impossible pollution of the tributary that was the Clare river through the insufficient sealing of a dump in Carrabrown.

As a result of this, a timescale for action was constructed in 2005. The water directives from the European Union have now existed for 15 years, and we have examined the main source of pollution of the Corrib, having identified it in 2005. The answer I received today suggests action "will lead to the adoption by 2009 of river basin management plans for each district, incorporating environmental objectives and a programme of measures to achieve those objectives". Note the mention of environmental objectives, not regulations.

This is singularly insufficient. I will summarise my comments on the acknowledgement in amendment No. 1 of the relationship between fisheries, environment and local government. I could put it bluntly. If the Minister was serious about the European Union directives, he would come in with a proposal for an authority to deliver on these directives. The county council is not the appropriate body and local authorities in one part of the country or another have rarely been out of the top four or five polluters themselves. Frankly, it is not going to work.

I am making these comments in trying to constructively address the Galway problem. The Minister will not solve the Galway problem by beginning at the other end and looking back. In amendment No. 2 we will speak of the right to clean water. We can move back from that point through a filtration of what is necessary in the short term. It is absolutely incredible that we would wait until 2009 for actual plans, not procedures, that would make the Corrib safe.

In 1996, Dr. Roderick O'Sullivan was drawing our attention through a comprehensive sampling system of the threat that existed to the Corrib. We were still discussing it eight years later in 2004 and many people should have been supporting action, be it in regard to agricultural or local authority pollution. As there were multiple polluters it was possible for them to point fingers at each other. The meeting in question closed at about half an hour after midnight and now, much later, there has been no progress.

I feel very strongly that we really need an authority now. I would support the Minister if he introduced a regulation to achieve European Union directives on water. I am speaking personally on this issue as I feel very strongly about it. We have two significant sections of water: the Shannon is managed in a particular way; and there is also Corrib, Carra and Mask. If we are to make it safe we must take other measures.

In my days as a Minister I was involved in designating a number of special areas of conservation and that may be a route to take. The issue cannot wait until 2009 because tributaries are already polluted. Who is inspecting the agricultural practices? Admittedly, an incentive is given to people to comply. It is positive that such an incentive was negotiated under the nitrates directive. Nobody is inspecting septic tanks. A set of guidelines, rather than regulations, applies to septic tanks. No attempt at compliance is being made. The local authorities are not giving the public information about where they are taking samples, what the results of those samples are and to whom the samples are being sent.

The tree-felling practices in the forestry industry are also relevant in this regard. When the House considers the other amendments, Deputies will have an opportunity to speak in more detail about such matters. Approximately 90% of the European population of the freshwater pearl mussel, for example, has disappeared. Just 10% of those mussels are left. Our protection obligations apply not only to ourselves, but also to a much wider community. For that reason, I ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to go beyond amendment No. 1, which acknowledges the inter-relationship of different agencies and Departments, by accepting in principle that a special authority is needed to ensure that Ireland complies with the EU directives on waste water and drinking water.

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