Malcolm Noonan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate the call I made yesterday regarding the occupied territories Bill. Every nation and state must play a part. My party leader confirmed at the weekend there is no impediment to the existing Bill and it needs to be brought forward as a matter of urgency. We need to put every pressure on the Israeli Government over the atrocities it is carrying out in Gaza.

This morning, I wish to raise a pretty damning Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report on septic tank inspections across the country. First, there is an inconsistency of application, and of inspection and enforcement regimes where, of the very small number of septic tanks - 1,390 - inspected, 56% of them failed. The implications of that are immense for human health because people are drinking water from sunken wells, and also for the receiving environment and vulnerable water bodies across the country. We really need to get to grips with this once and for all. It needs to happen at Government level and at local authority level. There needs to be consistency of application in the inspection regime.

I call on the Government to give consideration to free well water testing for all rural households, which is another important issue. A lot of families do not know what is coming out of their taps. They do not know what issues are there and there is E. coli contamination. We are facing a real public health risk here. The report is pretty damning and there has been little or no progress since the inspection regime started in 2013.

Where are we going with this, unless we have consistency of application with all local authorities? Some 95% of those tests took place in four counties - Mayo, Limerick, Kerry and Wexford. There is a problem here and it needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. The free well water testing would give householders either the confidence or the information they need to address the issues. Grants are available in the priority areas for action, which are the high status objective catchments. The national inspection plan needs to be ramped up and the Government and particularly the Minister for local government, needs to take in the local authorities and ensure the inspection regime is brought up to a standard where we know where the problem is and we can start to fix it. It is a huge risk to public health and to the aquatic environment.