Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to contribute to the debate. I pay tribute to the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward these proposals. They are well thought out and touch on a number of important issues, including Irish Water not addressing the problems of wastewater in our housing estates, which heretofore would have been assisted by the county councils. If one speaks to any county councillor or residents' association throughout this country, they will say it is a major issue causing a lot of distress for many residents.

One line in the motion goes to the very heart of the issue we are discussing, which is the basic health of our communities. It is stated that wastewater is one of the main threats to our rivers, lakes and estuaries. This issue does not just impact on small towns and rural villages, as set out by the Rural Independent Group; it also impacts on large towns throughout Ireland. My home town, Navan, has a population in excess of 32,000 people but last summer we witnessed a disgusting and disgraceful raw sewage discharge into the historic River Boyne which runs through the heart of the town. It happened because of a wastewater treatment plant which did not have sufficient capacity. As a result, the pumping station sent the overflow straight into the river in the middle of the town. The famous River Boyne, where the mythical Salmon of Knowledge was caught, was subjected to a planned discharge of raw sewage. Not many salmon were caught in the river following that discharge and if Fionn Mac Cumhaill had been swimming in the river that day, he would have choked. At the time, the Meath Chroniclecaptured perfectly the impact of this planned discharge when its journalist, Louise Walsh, described the scene: "Navan anglers have posted stomach-churning images of sewage floating on top of the river as well as condoms, sanitary towels. tampons and baby wipes, which they say have been released from an over-capacity pumping station at Blackcastle, along the town’s scenic Ramparts walkway."

This river is famed for its stock of salmon, brown trout, eel and bream. The anglers have claimed that these planned discharges happen on a regular basis but it was extremely prevalent on this occasion because the river was low due to the lack of rain. At the heart of this was a pumping station which was supposed to pump the sewage from the treatment plant but when it reaches capacity, the overflow goes into the Boyne. The authorities will say that it is not breaking any laws and that the sewage has been diluted by heavy rain. This time, there was no rain so the waste was lodging on the riverbed and along the river. There were children paddling in the water downstream from where this waste was. The issues outlined in this motion are important and need to be addressed, not just in rural Ireland but in urban Ireland too, because the health of our communities is at stake.

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