Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

We are proposing that the certificate of registration would be extended to the lifetime of the property, or for a period not less than 40 years. If a septic tank in a property is deemed to be working properly under the assessment process, if self-regulation was built in for the householder, and if what we are proposing on annual desludging was accepted by the Government and paid for by the Exchequer, there would be no need to review the legislation after five years.

Under the RIA which accompanies the Bill and under the section which deals with financial cost to the householder, it is suggested that a recommendation for desludging accompany the legislation. Perhaps this could be inserted into some of the regulations that the Minister controls under the legislation, and the RIA suggests that the average cost of this would be €200 for the householder. That could be defined as a hidden cost in the legislation if householders are requested at a future date to carry out that desludging themselves. We propose that desludging should be paid for by the Exchequer before the Bill comes into operation. If that were to happen, I do not see why the certificate of registration could only be valid for five years.

I am not sure if there is another scientific or microbiological reason for having a certificate that lasts only five years. Perhaps the Minister could identify such a reason. If there is a reason, can he tell us whether or not an annual desludging would deal with it?

The registration certificate also has massive ramifications from a conveyancing point of view. Legal experts have advised me that any section of this Bill, irrespective of whether it is a section attached to conveyancing, has property implications as the lawyer acting for the purchaser in a property transaction would look for all of the compliance certificates attached to this legislation when carrying out due diligence. That will have cost implications for people who may need to sell their homes. What implications will that have at the moment for a person who has a distressed mortgage, who is in financial difficulty-----