Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

I will quickly come to that. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle should give me a minute, as he gave to the last speaker.

There is a regime in other jurisdictions, particularly in the North, under which people do not pay. There is another example in Scotland. We support the risk-based approach as it is necessary to protect groundwater. Local authorities have a significant number of engineers and, as the Minister knows, not many capital works are taking place at present. Will those engineers carry out the inspections? We have no wish to see an army of new inspectors or a new quango being established for that task.

Many dwellings that have been built in the last ten to 15 years in rural areas have very elaborate septic tanks and waste water treatment systems-----

See this speech in context