Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

On standards, in telling us that whatever standard was acceptable previously will be okay, the Government has proved to me that this is not about water quality. I do not agree with this. We should have the highest standards possible. In 2005 contractors came to Castlerea, following a decision relating to pollution of watercourses in the area. They did not come to my house which is in an urban area to tell me that if I flushed my toilet and did not contribute to the €9.5 million sewage treatment scheme, I would be imprisoned. Also, they did not try to get away with complying with 1975 standards. Their task was to secure the water supply from potential pollution emanating from urban housing stock, in respect of which they put up the money and put in place the highest standards. No one in the town protested against the scheme because it was being paid for from their taxes and they were happy to go along with it. Just as the people outside the limits of the town do not want to pollute the water supply, those living in the town do not want to pollute it either.

If the Government wants this legislation to work on a quarter of an acre, half an acre or a ten acre site and to have the highest standards, it should pay for them, in the same way as those living in urban Ireland paid for them. My taxes went towards the cost of the sewage treatment scheme in my home town.

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