Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

We are debating what I consider to be an abomination of a Bill which attacks the rural Ireland that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, promised to defend at the many RISE meetings he attended. Since the election, he appears to have forgotten the promises he made to protect the people's interests.

This Bill will create a private army of inspectors who will have greater powers than the Oireachtas. How are Fine Gael Senators and councillors going to explain to their constituents that an army of inspectors and appeals officers, all of whom will be appointed by the EPA with the consent of the Minister, will have the power to enter houses and properties to inspect and monitor waste water treatment systems? The legislation allows them to set up camp for up to a week. They can take photographs of waste treatment systems, instruct residents not to disturb parts of their own premises, use diggers to carry out surveys of the soil and inspect records and other private information relating to waste water treatment systems. While the legislation states that inspectors require the permission of occupiers to enter, it will be an offence for a person to refuse entry to an inspector. I object to any private individual who is not employed by a statutory authority being given power to enter a house. The legislation should give those powers to the local authorities, the EPA or the Department. Who knows what level of political influence will be applied when the Minister's consent is required? This issue needs to be considered in more detail on Committee Stage.

We have already had an extensive debate on the charge and I am not going to rehearse the arguments. How are Fine Gael and the Labour Party Members going to explain to their constituents that they will have to work through all sorts of appeals and upgrading work if they do not comply with the legislation? I regret that the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy McGinley, is no longer in the House, even though this is not his area of responsibility. How will he tell people in Gweedore, where all the houses are built on top of each other, that they will have to upgrade their tanks and purchase additional land to put in place a new percolation system?