John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

It is a fact. Various Administrations have failed to tackle the problem, although we have known about it for some time. However, this Government will tackle it. There is a real commitment to doing so. I have given that commitment today and gave it previously in the renewed programme for Government. The report of the joint committee on the issue was good. However, it makes a few recommendations which will not be implemented, one of them being the provision of an incentive through a grant to upgrade tanks. Given the scale of the problem and the number of septic tanks involved, that is not possible.

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