Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise one last issue, which has been going on for the past ten or 12 years. When I first got involved in the local authority in Roscommon, permission for one-off housing on the bad land in the area was much easier to obtain. In my constituency, which now includes northern Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo and southern Donegal, there is an issue with one-off housing. We have been to Brussels to try to get it resolved. My colleague on the council, Councillor Seán McDermott in north Leitrim, has been to the fore on this matter. The EPA completed a public consultation and considered submissions. Is there any update on the code of practice on one-off wastewater treatment systems? If we want to stabilise the populations of our rural communities, especially given what is happening with Covid-19 now with many people working from home, and if we really want to help these rural communities, we must come up with some sensible solution. We do not want a solution that undermines the groundwaters, but this has gone on for far too long. I suspect that the Department or others have been dragging their heels by coming out with all these public consultations. Now is the time to make a decision. The solutions are out there. The cost of many of them is exorbitant, however, and may be up to €50,000. For anybody building a house next door to his or her parents' house in a rural area where the ground might not be good, it is cost-effective to get in a reasonable one-off system. What are the Minister's views on that?

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