David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

Let me deal with the issue at hand. My party favours moves that will further environmental protection. We believe it is vital to have a comprehensive mode of inspection and oversight in this area. We take a rights-based approach to the environment. Having a clean environment is a right that must be upheld to achieve a better quality of life. Clearly, considering the damage a faulty wastewater treatment system can do in its immediate environs, it is vital that the Government ensures such systems are properly maintained and inspected.

The Bill's digest, which was helpfully provided by the Oireachtas Library & Research Service, notes approximately 20% of drinking water supplies originate from ground-water and, as detailed in the regulatory impact analysis carried out on behalf of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, leakage from septic tanks is a major cause of ground-water pollution, especially in rural areas. A good inspection regime should have a very positive implication for ground-water quality by minimising pollution from wastewater treatment systems. Insufficient septic tanks pollute the surrounding soil and may release climate-changing gases such as methane into the atmosphere and cause odour nuisance. Wastewater discharge feeding into surplus water can pollute drinking water sources for livestock and other animals. Improvements in service water quality on the implementation of the Bill would reduce the incidence of illness as a result of animals drinking contaminated water.

The Bill, which is to amend the Water Services Act 2007, is being introduced because, in October 2009, the European Court of Justice ruled that Ireland failed to adopt the necessary legislation to comply with Articles 4 and 8 of the Council's waste directive regarding domestic wastewater disposed of in the countryside through septic tanks and other individual waste treatment systems. This could have been resolved many years ago, however, and the Government is right to blame a party that is now in opposition. This issue has its roots in a European directive from 1975 and it appears we are many years behind other European countries, especially our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, in introducing a comprehensive inspection and registration regime.

There are aspects of the Bill that cause concern among those of us in Sinn Féin. The Bill penalises ordinary working people in rural areas. Ordinary people have been hit badly, albeit by proposals of the previous Government, but I am sure they will be hit in a similar vein by the present Government when its budget is announced in a couple of weeks. The dreaded universal social charge was announced last year and it has had a significant impact on many working families. In addition, families are expected to pay household charges, water charges and the proposed septic tank charge.

Reducing poverty ought to be the core aim of the Government. Increasing unfair household charges will not do anything but decrease people's incomes. Reducing the incomes of those who spend takes money out of the real economy. We have seen how this has had a deflationary impact on the economy in the State. The proposal to charge the owners of wastewater treatment systems for registration is iniquitous and unfair.

Let me deal with some of the issues that were raised in regard to what Sinn Féin has done in the North. There is an alternative. In the Six Counties, desludging services are available for free to domestic users once per year from Northern Ireland Water. If users require a second service during the second-year period, they must bear a charge. My party is committed to ensuring the systems in the Six Counties and Twenty-six Counties are harmonised.