Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I have very little time to speak due to the guillotine that has been imposed on it. As there are so many Members of the Technical Group willing to speak on it, adequate time should have been provided in the House to ensure that everybody could make a contribution to what is a very important Bill. It will have a major impact on those living in rural Ireland.

There is major concern in communities around the country on the potential effects of the Bill. In Donegal, thousands of people have attended public meetings over the last few weeks and have clearly stated that they will not register for this tax. They see this as another stealth tax being imposed by the Government in combination with the household tax and water taxes coming down the line over the next two years. Those people have publicly stated that they will not sign up for this and will not volunteer to be placed on a register and pay these taxes. The register is very dubious as everybody knows that there is already a register in the planning files. Ordinance Survey Ireland has mapped all properties in the country, so we already know where all the septic tanks are located. If somebody has a house in rural Ireland that is not on a public sewer, then he or she has to have a septic tank. It is as simple as that.

People have clearly stated that they are not going to participate in this, which will highlight the fatal flaw in the Bill, as people will not register. They are saying they will not register because they are afraid of what will happen if they have to upgrade their systems as the Bill provides no measure of grant aid to ensure that people can get assistance. The State is pumping hundreds of millions of euro into the upgrade of public sewerage systems across the country every year but is not providing a penny of support to people in rural Ireland who may have to upgrade their systems under the provisions of this Bill.

I would like the Minister to clarify his earlier statement that there is no question of applying new standards to old or on-site systems. Does this apply only to systems that pass on inspection? Will failed systems be obliged to comply with the 2009 Environmental Protection Agency guidelines or the guidelines that prevailed at the time of the construction of the house? This would mean a house built in the 1980s would have 1980s standards applied to it. There appears to be a conflict in terms of the orders that local authorities will give to those with deficient systems because the legislation does not specify the compliance requirements. This represents a fatal flaw. It is a sop thrown out to cloud the issue. People will be stuck and will be obliged to comply with 2009 guidelines when, in many cases, they will not have a site large enough to comply or to provide the percolation area required. How will people who have built on 0.5 acres in years past manage when the regulations require an area of 0.6 acres for a site to comply with the new guidelines?

The Minister stated in the House in September that local authorities had the resources, made up of staff sitting around doing nothing, as he put it, to carry out inspections. However, the Bill provides for the setting up of a panel of private inspectors who will probably be paid exorbitant funds from the public purse to inspect these systems. What is the real motivation behind this? Is it to gear up for the privatisation of water services across the board?

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