Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Deputy Martin Kenny's Bill. It is a practical measure aimed at solving a problem in areas where there is rural decline. The previous speakers mentioned the north west, Donegal, Leitrim and such counties where there is heavy soil. There are areas across the midlands which have problems with soil types, such as the western part of County Laois including the Slieve Bloom area, Coolrain and Camross and parts of Mountrath, as well as Edenderry and the Ferbane area in north County Offaly. This seems like a small problem but the way it is being dealt with by the EPA and the Department has been a blunt instrument. It is adding to rural decline in areas where there is already depopulation. We need to try to address this problem and this is a practical solution.

As somebody who cares about the environment and is spokesperson for the environment for my party, I would not support this measure unless it was going to achieve a better outcome. The Bill as tabled will get a better outcome in what it advocates. We currently have septic tanks, which are often just storage chambers. This legislation improves environmental protection and accounts for different soil types. The blunt instrument currently there does not deal with that. The legislation gives a waste discharge licence to single householders where there would be a three-step treatment of waste: a septic tank, a filter system and finally a reed or willow bed. The Minister's predecessor came to Clonaslee in County Laois a few years ago and opened a sewage treatment plant that had a large system like this to cater for a whole village, which is held up as a model and is working perfectly. It is located beside the River Clodiagh. There have been no problems with it and there will not be problems with it because it is using the best of technology and a natural solution at the end of the process in the form of a reed bed. We are talking about using this on a smaller scale.

We need to deal with the areas where there is depopulation and which are suffering from rural decline. It must also be taken into account that rural houses are being built to a more modern standard. Several houses that I have seen being built in rural areas have been fitted with heat pumps and solar panels. We can combine this with renewable energy to ensure that rural households are sustainable and are being built to the highest environmental standards with proper use of energy and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We need to combat climate change but we should not see this as a burden. The new technology exists and we are proposing use of new technology and practical solutions to deal with the issue of septic tanks and discharge from them. There is no argument about that. We must meet the highest standards.

I note that where something fails the so-called T-test under EPA guidelines, that rules out any engineering solution, regardless of how high the standard of technology is. The only way around this is a discharge licence. On the other side of the Border, they have found a way to deal with this and are completely complaint with EU water protection directives. Across from the county Deputy Martin Kenny represents, in County Fermanagh, a different system operates, so it can be done. We must have robust planning laws. This is not an argument for wider development with houses dropped all over the place. We have seen bad examples of that. This is about areas where there is poor soil quality and where parishes have lost shops, are in danger of losing schools, are losing post offices and will lose more. It is about getting people to work in those rural areas and to allow them to live there.

I urge the Government to take this on board. The Minister has tabled an amendment. The Government keeps amending many of these Bills and is always kicking the can down the road. It says we can deal with issues some other day. Now is the time to deal with this. We must change the culture in this country to deal with issues by putting practical solutions in place that are sound with regard to the environment and greenhouse gas emissions. We need to marry these with new technologies and move ahead. I urge everybody in the House to support the Bill. I ask the Government to have second thoughts about it. The Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Bill as tabled is sound and we need to get behind it. As Deputy Martin Kenny said, Sinn Féin is willing to work with the EPA and the Minister's Department to make sure this is done to the highest standard.

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