James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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190. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when funds will be made available to Longford County Council to assist in the necessary and urgent inspection and upgrade of septic a tank (details supplied) in County Longford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23096/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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In December 2012 I announced my intention to introduce a grant scheme to provide financial assistance to households whose septic tanks and other domestic wastewater treatment systems are deemed to require remediation following an inspection under the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012. The grant scheme will only apply to owners of treatment systems which are the subject of an Advisory Notice issued by a water services authority following an inspection carried out under the 2012 Act. Full details of the scheme will be set out in regulations which I will make in advance of inspections commencing.

The 2012 Act assigns responsibility to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make a National Inspection Plan for domestic wastewater treatment systems.The National Inspection Plan 2013: Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems was published by the EPA in February 2013. Details of the minimum number of inspections for each county are included in the Plan. It is the responsibility of the water services authorities (the 34 county and city councils) to implement the Inspection Plan in their functional areas and to select particular treatment systems for inspection having regard to the risk based approach in the Inspection Plan.