John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

That is not the case. This is a serious problem because there are approximately 418,000 septic tanks in the country compared to England which has just over 800,000 despite being one of the most densely populated countries in the world. That puts the matter in perspective.

The Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, of which Deputy Hogan is a member, made recommendations which make sense in the context of current budgetary constraints. It has recommended that my Department develop a strategy to address concerns regarding pollution of ground water resources and the rural environment. I assure the Deputy that will be done. It also recommended that local authorities should police on-site sewage treatment and disposal processes through a variety of measures, including the establishment of panels of approved system designers, site assessors and inspection and enforcement officers, and that incentives to upgrade existing septic tanks should be introduced. I have indicated that the final recommendation is subject to budgetary constraints but that does not rule out the necessity of a proper inspection regime. The fact of the matter is that a laissez faire approach was taken to septic tanks. For whatever reason, county engineers have allowed tanks to be constructed in totally inappropriate soil types. We need to tighten up the regulations across the board.

It is not fair to say that we are prepared to pay fines because that is not something I want to countenance. I am absolutely committed to dealing with this problem but given the multitude of houses that have installed septic tanks, it is not an easy proposition.

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