Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman and wish her good luck in her new role. As a Member of the European Parliament, I received a constant stream of complaints from all over 15 counties about a totally inadequate system of water and wastewater provision. Ireland was dragged kicking and screaming to the European Court of Justice and heavily fined for basically allowing its own people to be poisoned. Subsequently we handed over a seriously underfunded and wholly inadequate water and wastewater system to Irish Water, which does not have adequate resources to upgrade these systems. In that context, I fully support the proposal in this motion that the Government must put in place a transparent cost structure for new and extensions to existing water and wastewater treatment plants.

Another crucial matter for so many people is the provision of waste water systems for rural one-off houses. In many parts of the constituency I represent we have the march of Sitka spruce across the horizon. In County Leitrim in particular, it is virtually impossible to get planning for a one-off rural house. Almost 87% of the soil in Leitrim fails to meet the accepted percolation tests required by the EPA. The number of one-off houses being built in Leitrim could be counted on one hand. As Deputy Martin Kenny mentioned earlier, outside Carrick-on-Shannon, there is a case of raw sewage entering the Shannon from a housing development.

A football club in south Leitrim, Ballinaglera, has issued a stark warning about the future of rural clubs in Leitrim. It has said the current position is sucking the lifeblood from communities like Ballinaglera and its analysis indicates the number of clubs in the county could halve in the near future. There is an initiative under way that is being pushed by Leitrim County Council and all four Oireachtas Members representing the county.

We met the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, who was in the House earlier, to explore the unacceptable situation in Leitrim where basically no one-off housing can be built. The proposal is to look at a fresh design of the willow-based evapotranspiration system to solve the problem. He expressed his willingness to work with us and to share costs. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to convey to the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, that this matter is of the utmost urgency. An EPA research programme must be put in place immediately, along with a pilot programme for homeowners to start building. This would be a minimal step forward, but at least if that was happening now people would have something to hold on to. This has been one of the most important issues for County Leitrim for the past 20 years. If the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, was here, I would ask him to finally be the person to bring forward a workable solution.

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