Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is the reason. The refusal came because of the EPA guidelines. In my parish of Aghavas, there is no town or village. It is a rural parish with approximately 600 people scattered over 20 sq. km. There is a three-teacher school but next year it will be a two-teacher school. The football club is under pressure because we do not have enough children in the parish. There are at least ten families from the parish who want to move back, build houses and live in the community but they cannot do so because of the percolation test problem. We need a solution and I want to work with the Minister of State and the Government to produce a solution that works for those families. There is a similar problem in the neighbouring parish of Drumreilly, a rural parish with no town. It is the same with Gortletteragh, a rural parish with no town either. It is the case with many areas across the country.

The Government has proposed to kick this down the road for a year but if this has to go through Committee and all other Stages, most of the year will probably have passed. There is no need to kick it down the road. I appeal to the Minister of State to withdraw the Government's amendment and support the Bill. It should work with everybody else who is on board with this so we can formulate a solution to this problem for everyone.

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