Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and providing me with the opportunity to address the matter on behalf of the Minster for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The policy of providing grant support for domestic wastewater treatment systems, or septic tank grants, arises from the need to address damage being done to water quality in sensitive areas, in particular, and in areas of the greatest environmental priority to protect human health and the environment.

The purpose of the grants is to provide financial assistance to households for works to septic tanks to protect human health and the environment and to help Ireland meet our commitments under the river basin management plan. Three individual types of grants are available to householders and their purpose is to provide financial assistance to households to repair, upgrade or replace a defective septic tank. The grants are not general in application and are available only if the septic tank has failed an inspection under the national inspection plan and an advisory notice has issued or if it is located in either a prioritised area for action or a high-status objective catchment area as defined in the river basin management plan.

Following a review of the scheme in 2023, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, announced substantial improvements to the terms and conditions of all three grants. An increase to the funding available for households was agreed, from €5,000 to €12,000, and there was a removal of the requirements for the purposes of the grant for households to have registered their wastewater treatment system with the local authority.

The modifications to the conditions and levels of the grants available came into effect from 1 January of this year. It is likely the changes made will encourage more householders to seek and avail of the grant and consequently help reduce the risk of environmental impact from defective tanks. However, the grant support being provided is focused on the areas of greatest environmental priority to protect human health and the environment and is not general in application.

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