John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. My concern is with the timeline for the review, which has been going on for quite some time. It was my understanding that the review was completed.

In his response, the Minister of State cited that 98% of all systems are now registered with local authorities, but the question is what percentage were registered before 1 February 2013. I would argue that it was considerably lower than the 98%. What that is actually doing is excluding a significant cohort that were not registered by that date, so it must be included in the recommendations of the review that these are taken into consideration and are able to avail of a higher grant in this space along with all other registered septic tanks. It is an issue of equity and fairness. Many are being excluded through no fault of their own, in particular those who purchased properties between 1 February 2013 and 31 July 2023. I ask the Minister of State to expedite this as quickly as possible, to revise the grant that has been announced upwards, and to include householders that were not registered before 1 February 2013.