Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to review the grant scheme for group sewerage schemes. Currently, 170,000 homes are on group water schemes but there are approximately 440,000 septic tanks in the country. We have all heard about the EU judgments against various local authorities regarding our ground water sources. The grant of €6,647.66 put in place by previous Governments was available for group water schemes yet the grant available for group sewerage schemes was only €2,031.58. I ask that the Minister review the scheme and at least give an equal grant for both aspects of the scheme. It is important that we protect our ground water sources and if the scheme is changed it will be of benefit to the country.