Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)

I thank the Acting Chairman. I have no choice.

It is only when we visit other countries that we realise that we have treated our most precious resource in a cavalier fashion. If one pollutes or wastes water in Australia, one will suffer severe penalties. We are now on a clear purpose to enhance and protect public health and the environment for the benefit of rural dwellers and a better quality water supply for everybody.

I am pleased to note from the Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 that we have reached the stage in this country when a real attempt is being made, albeit forcibly assisted by EU concerns, to install legal measures designed to prevent human waste from entering the food chain. Such waste or contamination is the main source of water borne pathogens, including cryptosporidium, which we all know is so expensive for all local authorities to treat.

I am also pleased to note that in the Seanad last week colleagues of every party made it clear that they agreed with the overall objective of the Bill, which is to protect groundwater sources. Some had difficulty with the wording of the Bill as drafted but nobody had difficulty in supporting a proper regime of regulation, including registration, inspection and remediation. No doubt this consensus was greatly influenced by the fact that the Renewed Programme for Government, agreed between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party on 10 October 2009, committed to introducing a scheme for the licensing and inspection of septic tanks and waste water treatment systems.

As with much progressive new legislation going through this Dáil, realism has now taken over. Some concerns were rightly raised about the lack of State action through local government to clean up its act. This is a legacy issue because of the scandalous under funding of public sewerage treatment plants during the housing boom.

Failure to prioritise provision of water and sewerage treatment ahead of development has been the frequent cause of pollution and risk to public health. This failure became clear on 29 October 2009 when the European Court of Justice ruled against Ireland on the treatment of waste waters from septic tanks and other on-site waste water treatment systems. The court found that by failing to adopt the necessary legislation to comply with the EU Waste Directive, Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive. Ireland is now facing the imposition of substantial penalties and fines from the European Court of Justice. The European Commission lodged an application in the court for this purpose in July. We are in this situation due to the lack of priority given to the matter by the previous Government. This Government has acted decisively and without delay to address this issue and to protect the country from having to pay substantial fines to Europe.

The failure to dispose of domestic waste waters in the Irish countryside through septic tanks and other individual waste water treatment systems is why we are in this mess today. Septic tanks and other on-site waste water treatment plants, along with organic farm waste, were identified by the EPA as the most likely causes of E. coli contamination in groundwater. It is expected that only a minority of systems inspected will require major upgrading. The costs of this are difficult to quantify.

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