Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 1a:

In page 3, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:

"4.—The Principal Act is amended by inserting after section 8(4) the following:

"(5) Where a member of the Garda Síochána, or an appointed person for the purposes of this Act, finds a person and has reasonable grounds for believing that such person is committing or has committed an offence to which section 70(10) applies, the member may deliver to such person a written notice stating—

(a) that such person is alleged to have committed that offence, and is liable to summary conviction,

(b) that such person may, during a period of twenty-one days beginning on the date of the notice, make to a member of the Garda Síochána at a specified Garda Síochána station a payment of the fine accompanied by the notice,

(c) that a prosecution in respect of the alleged offence will not be instituted during the period specified in the notice, or, if the payment specified in the notice is made during that period, at all."."

Ba mhaith liom an leasú seo a mholadh go hoifigiúil. Nílim chun scéal fada a dhéanamh as seo, ach go bunúsach séard atá muid ag iarraidh ná go gcuirfí an béim ar an údarás scríobh chuig gach duine a bhfuil dabhach shéarachais acu le cur in iúl dóibh go gcaithfidh siad clárú.

This amendment proposes that instead of everybody having to make the initial application himself or herself, the onus should be on the water authority and that it should have to write to everybody on the list as having a house. I imagine there will be scenarios where older people or people who do not watch the television might not pick up on an advertising campaign, etc. Initially, the local authority-water authority should be asked to send some form of notification to every householder to ask if he or she has a septic tank and so on. One should not expect the citizen to apply immediately. Sin an moladh go bunúsach.