Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I hope the Minister will reassure the House that the form of registration, when it eventually sees the light of day, will not win the prize for difficult English. Whenever most Departments get their hands on forms, irrespective of whichever party is running the Administration, I always have the impression that there is a group of people who gleefully look on form creation a little like getting sweets for Christmas, in other words, they try to make it as difficult and complicated as possible for the ordinary citizen. The Minister has spelled out in good detail exactly what will be required under the registration but I would like an assurance that the form of registration will, in the interests of clarity, be simple, straightforward and will not have any addendums, appendices or references to subsections.

I am concerned about that because there is a reference in the Bill to the phrase, "contains such information as may be prescribed". The Minister might enlighten us as to his thinking on what other information might be involved. I can think of one item of information in the context of this debate on the amendment. I am not an expert on septic tanks but we have had septic tanks since the early 1960s and treatment plants have changed considerably in that time. The more modern septic tank is a much more efficient machine than those of a few decades ago. Does the Minister believe it will be of benefit to the various water authorities, which are the local authorities in this case, to have information on the type of septic tank or is that something that will follow later in terms of the inspection?

I am not sure how the inspection will identify the type of septic tank, and whether the Minister believes that will be relevant. If technology has moved on to the point where there is now little or no pollution from the more modern septic tanks, the inference is that there are older septic tanks that are leaking and causing pollution. Is that the type of information about which the Minister is concerned?

I am concerned - I suppose this is inevitable as it happens in almost every Bill of this type - with the phrase "prescribed fee" in respect of an application under subsection (2). That is a great get-out clause for Ministers. I appreciate the registration fee will be made clear but why did the Minister not prescribe it in this legislation and state what he has been outlining? It raises the issue of whether successive Ministers for the environment will use this as another tax raising method or another form of revenue for the Department.