Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this important issue of water services. It is incredible that, more than 35 years after the promulgation of the directive, we are in a situation where there is no regulatory or inspection mechanism to deal with septic tanks and other rural treatment services, and that there are some 450,000 septic tanks throughout the country. It is amazing that such a period of time should have gone by, when all directives from the European Union are supposed to be transposed into legislation within three years. It is also incredible that it has taken until now for the Commission to take us to the European Court of Justice on this issue.

I was a member of the Committee on European Affairs for a number of years and this issue came up every year. It came to our attention that Cavan was the only county in Ireland that got its act together in 2004 and put regulations in place that provided for proper inspections, if not registration, of septic tanks. The local authority charged for those inspections at a rate of approximately €200 per inspection whereas, under this Bill, there will be no charge for inspections.

There is a huge issue of scaremongering around this legislation. It is one of the most important Bills that could come before the House. It has everything to do with public health, preventing contamination of ground-water in the system and getting rid of all of this terrible negative publicity we have every year, with major fish kills in our rivers and lakes. There is also the E.coli pollution that occurs, with the result that the people of towns and villages must buy bottled water.

It is amazing that any Government over the last period of time should have allowed this to continue, particularly the last Government. I am not referring to the successive Fianna Fáil Governments that have been in place for the last 14 years but the last Government in which there was a Green Party input. The coalition partner in the Government was the Green Party and the Minister with responsibility for the environment was the leader of the Green Party, but it did not deal with this matter. It had been given ample warning in 2009 when the decision was made by the European Court of Justice. However, it was only in 2011 that the European Commission decided to implement the penalties. The reason this legislation must be passed urgently by the House is to ensure Ireland is not subject to penalties of approximately €9.5 million per annum. It is a colossal amount.

This is a country that prides itself on being the green island of Ireland, with the best quality agricultural produce in the world, untainted by the many negative or toxic substances that might be found in other countries. The IFA argues that we must have a policy of food security in the European Union and that we should not be importing food from great distances because we can guarantee the quality of our food. However, consider what is going into our water. It can contaminate the drinking water for humans as well as animals and the agricultural produce that ends up in the food chain.

It is essential that we get our act together as quickly as possible. We must pass this legislation and forget all the scaremongering. The question of cost is a red herring. The cost of registration is €50, not €300 as the IFA and Fianna Fáil are claiming. It is outrageous scaremongering. The agricultural community has never had things as good as they are now. It is not a financial issue at present, and this is the time to do it.

I am pleased the Minister has brought this Bill forward and I commend it to the House. It is probably one of the most important Bills to be passed by the House this year.

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