Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this report. I agree with Deputy Murnane O’Connor about septic tanks. If one did not register, one had to pay a fiver to do so at a later date. If late registration costs €20 now, that is fine. However, we should look at water quality. I ask the Minister of State to do so because it is stupid for a county council to do the 5% they are doing each year, where they ask if a person has this or that done and if the fiver has been paid. If neither has been don, then it is good luck because it will not be done. There is no point in saying that it will be done. We should look at the end and how we solve the problem. I ask the Minister of State or the Department to look at that. If it is four times the €5, that is fine. We will not be jumping up and down about it.

I live in an area that has one of the most pristine rivers in Ireland. The river runs through agricultural land, which everybody gives out about, and through bogs, which everybody gives out about. Ironically enough, the part of the river that runs through Ballymoe, where Irish Water has the sewerage scheme, is the section where there is a problem. In fairness, Irish Water is doing an upgrade. However, it is sad that this little stretch of 100 yards is damaging the reputation of the rest of the river, which is miles long. It is there in any report that the river is one of the most pristine in Ireland.

We have trouble with some rivers and there is no point in saying that we have not and we need to have good quality water. I am the chairman of a group water scheme. One has one’s buffer zones around it and one ensures that one gets water in as clean a way as possible. One thing which needs to be addressed, however, is that there are many small villages in this country in which Irish Water does not have a presence. If villages do not have Irish Water or a sewerage scheme, they cannot get grant aid now. What is in the septic tanks will be flowing down into rivers. There is no point in us codding ourselves; that is happening.

In some of the larger middle-sized towns in the west of Ireland - Deputy Ring will know them as well as I do - Irish Water needs to speed up the putting in of the infrastructure for sewerage treatment plants. They are a quicker job now than they were at one time. One can add sections on to tanks. What happened in some areas is that when we had the boom, more houses were built. Because of the number of houses built, the treatment plants were not fit to cater for them. One only has to add sections on to the treatment plants. It is a straightforward work but it needs to be speeded up. That is how to satisfy the EPA.

The EPA seems to come out with bad reports all of the time. I saw it with the bogs when it stated that bogs were hydrologically connected. When it went into the courts last week and when scientific evidence needed to be shown, it had to go away with its tail between its legs. The EPA said something but it had nothing to back that up when it was required. It needs to have its facts right.

Everyone in here would be in favour of having better quality water, but there are things the Government needs to do. I am not giving out; I am saying that we need to solve that registration issue in order to help improve water quality. If people put up their hand and say that their septic tank is not working right, there is no help from there at this minute. If someone puts up their hand and says that their septic tank is not working right, they should get the grant and have it done. This is because what one is doing in the overall context is good for the country.

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