Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to.

One of the Minister's predecessor, big Phil the enforcer, the former Deputy Hogan, who is currently EU Commissioner, tried to taint all rural dwellers who had septic tanks and their own treatment plants as being the problem, but the problem is here in this damning report by the EPA done under the Minister's watch and which found 179 major failures. That does not include all the smaller failures in small villages in every county, including in my county from Carrick-on-Suir and Ahenny right over into Cluain Meala, Cill Chais - "Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad?" - Tipperary, Monard, Limerick Junction, Aherlow and across into Durlas Éile and áiteanna eile.

Perhaps most disturbingly, it also finds that raw sewage from the equivalent of 88,000 people in 38 towns and villages flows into the environment every day and that many small rural towns and villages and a number of large coastal and urban centres are currently without any effective wastewater treatment plant. The fact that these events have been noted by the EPA on an almost annual basis demonstrates the complete disregard that many parts of rural Ireland experience. It is time the Government listened to them and paid heed.

Like the roll-out of the national broadband plan, the Government has squandered almost every opportunity to reform wastewater infrastructure in rural Ireland. Some villages have been waiting decades for simple infrastructural change. My own village of An Caisleán Nua na Siúire, Newcastle - not Newcastle-upon-Tyne but Newcastle in Tipperary - which is a proud place, is begging and fighting for a proper treatment plant. It is also the case that even where those people in rural Ireland seek to effectively manage their water supplies they are not being supported, rather they are being hammered. Many people who were pioneers of group water schemes and sank their own wells are not getting any support. For example, I submitted a parliamentary question some time ago on the amount paid to group water scheme machine operators. The information provided to me showed that there was a massive drop in the grant payments issued by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to the group water scheme private well owners from 2011 to 2016 under the Government's watch. It might have been the Minister's predecessor but he was part of it. In 2011 the Department funded all local authorities to administer the rural water programme to the tune of over €70 million. By 2016, a mere five years later, that amount had dropped to just over €20 million. It is a shocking indictment that €50 million was cut from the pioneers and the people who enacted the water schemes, many of which the councils took over. Now Uisce Éireann has them. That is the thanks they get - two fingers every time. That is an astonishing gap of almost €50 million which needs to be explained by the Minister and I hope he is taking notes and will have some explanations when he replies to this motion.

During the same period, in Tipperary alone there was a reduction in payments under the rural water programme from €1.95 million in 2011 to a mere €718,558 in 2016, a 50% cut. This caused huge frustration within rural areas. Why would it not when other people say they cannot and will not pay? These are people who have always paid and will continue to pay. However, they needed supports and they did not get them from the Government. While the Government was engaging in trench warfare with the pay for nothing brigade it was crucifying middle Ireland. They are Mr. Peter Casey's new supporters. Why would they not support him when they are being crucified every which way all the time?

I am aware the Minister confirmed that an initial €3.6 million was to be paid under the 2017 rural water programme, on top of the €11.6 million announced in June of last year and we welcome that. It is a step in the right direction but these grant allocations to local authorities for group water and sewerage schemes are only a drop in the ocean in comparison with the cuts imposed on the schemes over recent years.

The motion also refers to the lack of any effective wastewater treatment systems in small villages and towns that is haunting sustainable development and increasing planning refusals by An Bord Pleanála due to existing wastewater constraints. That is a fact that we have to live with even though we are trying to grow our country.

The Government has plans for 2040 with a new vision for a new Ireland. That cannot happen in small villages like my own village of An Caisleán Nua, Burncourt, Ballylooby, Kilcash, Moyglass and Grangemockler, where a scheme has been designed for years, and Mullinahone. The Minister is welcome to come to Mullinahone to see for himself what he will find when he walks into the treatment plant but he better have his wellies and a face mask.

Even when small rural towns and villages have developed plans and have designs in place for the construction of wastewater treatment plants they are not able to cope because of the lack of funding and that is the problem. There are many pioneers, many good engineers in the county councils and many designs are done by architects and consultants. Sites are procured by willing farmers, landowners and householders and there is co-operation from all involved but there is a thumbs down from the Department every time.

I mention the transfer of water services to Irish Water. There is no statutory obligation on Irish Water to maintain, repair, replace or free a combined drain water connection to a domestic premises that was previously maintained, repaired and replaced by the local authorities. This is an indictment on us. I am told that it was not transposed over in the agreement. I believe it is more sinister than that and is deliberate. It is a case of to hell or to Connacht for the peasants. We have schemes of houses in places, such as Elm Park in Clonmel, and in many other old estates, such as College Avenue, that had a combined drain either in front of the houses or in the garden at the rear. Indeed, if one wanted to build an extension at the back of the house one was not allowed or had to divert the pipe all the way around to the front. If one wanted to extend in the front garden one was not allowed to do so if the drain was there. Blockages are occurring there now but Irish Water is saying that it is not its responsibility. It is its responsibility. Those schemes were built by the council. Many of them were built by hardy and good builders over the years. Irish Water is not freeing the blockages. Heretofore the council workers were ready, willing and able to free the blockages. They would go in with a rod and free the blockage where raw sewage was coming up in people's porches and gardens. The house might be number ten in a row of 30 houses. The householder has to pay the cost of getting in a private operator.

I am pleading with the Minister in this regard. I had a Private Member's Bill and I copied some details from the British model where the same thing happened. I got good support from the technical staff in the Oireachtas and from my two councillors, Councillors Lonergan and Molloy, and my own staff in the office. Unfortunately the Ceann Comhairle - not the Leas-Cheann Comhairle but his boss - and his staff ruled it out of order because of a money cost. What about the people who have lived and served? I know the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has no boss tonight, he is my boss-----

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