Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

As usual, the Government is pushing through a Bill and claiming that it must do so due to European law. It is the first reason given in the Minister's speech. In the Bill's digest, it is pretty much the only reason we should do it, whatever about poisoning ourselves with cryptosporidium. Why do successive Governments try to pass the buck when it comes to making decisions, and then wonder why people have a problem with the EU?

The people of rural Ireland do not wish to pollute their water supply in the same way the people of urban Ireland did not wish to do so. The difference is that the people of urban Ireland were rightly given massive grants to upgrade their town systems. Sewerage systems were rolled out during the boom, which meant that dwellers of urban Ireland were able to become compliant when it came to water pollution. However, now that we are finally getting our act together on septic tanks, the Government has decided that people who live in the countryside must cover the cost of potential upgrades to their treatment systems. Not only that, but the Government will criminalise people if they do not do what inevitably will become financially impossible for tens of thousands of rural dwellers.

If the figures in Cavan are anything to go by, then we are looking at a situation where 25% of all septic tanks - 115,000 - could be in need of remediation, at an average cost of €2,500. In other words, rural Ireland will have to fork out €287 million, whereas those living in towns will already have had that done for them. If this Bill is passed, then we will have the crazy situation whereby people in the countryside will have paid for the upgrade of urban schemes through their taxes, even though they will have to pay for their own schemes by themselves.

To make matters worse, the Government also intends to impose a stealth tax on these people. We are told that this payment of €50 is only for every five years or so but as we know, such a charge will only be the thin end of the wedge and will, if successfully implemented, be increased in monetary terms as well as frequency. This stealth tax is framed as a registration fee. The idea of registering is that the local authority will know where the septic tanks are located. This begs the question as to what have the councils done with their current records? Did each and every one of these houses not require planning permission in which treatment systems would already be clearly detailed?

There is no doubt that something must be done in order to protect our vital water sources. The people of my constituency are more vulnerable than most, with over 80% of our drinking water in County Roscommon coming from ground water and a similar percentage in south Leitrim. The way to deal with this successfully is to treat all people equally. To do that, the required moneys for the upgrade of treatment systems in need for remediation must be found from the national Exchequer. I can hear a chorus from the Government that we do not have the money for this. We have the money to perpetually dig up footpaths, to pay far too many county councillors, and for unnecessary layers of bureaucracy in county councils. If we have the money for all this largesse, then we have the money to upgrade these septic tanks. This would guarantee that the job would be done properly and water supply could be secured.

The route the Government has decided to take will result in non-compliance. It will result in the further erosion of people's respect for the law. It will criminalise people for an inability to pay a bill which they should never receive in the first place. Sadly, it will mean that our water supply will continue to be polluted, which I do not think is the aim.

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