Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

To be fair, the Deputy was not party to it, although some of his party members were. Deputy Martin Ferris and others could educate him about public meetings and misinformation in the House. Those Deputies have been seeking to misinform and frighten people on an issue that should not cause a problem for many.

The Deputy mentioned some people with high mortgages but they would have already complied with the 2009 regulations and the 2007 Act. Recently built houses should have no difficulty in complying with the standards set out in the draft regulations and the cases where there may be problems would go back years and would not have engaged in a proper maintenance and de-sludge programme. Mentioning the category referred to by the Deputy is again misinforming people as he is arguing that they will have a problem with these standards. There will be few problems arising from these standards and I will consider the financial position of people if there are problems. I cannot and will not do so until I know the level of the problem arising from inspections in 2013.

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