John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. As Members know I tabled it on a number of occasions and I have written to both the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on this matter. I welcome the opportunity get some clarity on the matter because the discrepancies around the septic tank grants have existed now for too long.

On 27 June this year, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, issued its latest report on domestic wastewater treatment systems. There are nearly half a million systems, mainly septic tanks, in Ireland and the report stated that fixing 40 septic tanks was taking too long. It went on to say that half of septic tanks inspected failed and 20% were a risk to human health and the environment. It also criticised the discrepancies between local authorities in terms of the numbers of inspections carried out. Where septic tanks fail inspections, local authorities issue advisory notices to householders, setting out what is required in order to fix the problem. The report by the EPA found there were 550 cases where issues that were notified to householders more than two years previously had still not been addressed. That brings us to the core element of today's matter.The grant levels are too low to have the impact they were set up to achieve, and significant numbers of householders are being excluded from the current grant supports through no fault of their own. The current grants that are available, as the Minister of State will be aware, cover 85% of the costs of remediation works up to a maximum of €5,000, which is wholly inadequate given inflationary impacts and the increased costs associated with repairing or replacing septic tanks or both. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The other substantive issue relates to the exclusion of properties from grant supports because the property owner did not register their septic tank, as required, by 1 February 2013. While I can to an extent understand the logic of not rewarding those who fail to comply with registration regulations, there now have been many instances, some of which have been brought to my attention of my county, Waterford, in which the new owners of properties cannot avail of the grant supports available because the previous owner failed to register the septic tank, and that is fundamentally unfair. If someone buys a property with a septic tank that was not registered, he or she will have no way of rectifying the fact the previous owner did not register it by 1 February 2013 and, as a result, such people will be locked out and excluded from getting the grant support they need. This is yet another reason remediation is being put on the long finger by many. It is expensive to carry out these works and while the grant supports are there for this purpose, many are being excluded from them. I see it as a water quality as well as a fairness issue.

I understand a review has been carried out into the domestic wastewater treatment grants, which I had called for last year from the Minister of State's predecessor, Deputy Peter Burke. We need to know when the review will be published, what changes are expected as a result of it and a timeline for their implementation. In that context, the level of grant supports, and the exclusion of certain householders who had not carried out the registration by 1 February 2013, must be addressed in whatever that review recommends.