Vol. 417 No. 6
11 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Environment if he will outline the improved standards for sewage treatment and disposal he will introduce in 1992; if he will approve capital expenditure by Dublin Corporation for improvements in their policy of sewage treatment and disposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The environment action programme sets out the Government's objectives for eliminating untreated sewage discharges to coastal and inland waters. The Environmental Protection Agency Bill, 1990, when enacted will empower the Minister for the Environment to prescribe standards for sewage discharges. This will facilitate implementation of the EC Directive on Urban Water Waste Treatment.
The provision of new and improved sewage management and disposal arrangements for major coastal towns, including Dublin, is a particular priority of the water and sanitary services programme. Dublin Corporation have appointed consultants to develop proposal for the provision of secondary, or if necessary higher, treatment at Ringsend and Howth. The question of capital expenditure does not yet arise in relation to these proposals.
I tabled the question because I was concerned about the disposal and treatment of sewage in the greater Dublin area. The raw sewage from over 50 per cent of the houses is disposed of directly into Dublin Bay off the nose of Howth. I am aware that it is mandatory to introduce some of the EC Directives in this area before 1998. Because of the huge volume of untreated sewage being discharged into Dublin Bay, which of course has an effect on amenities in the area, would the Minister consider introducing interim measures to ensure that the sewage is treated by some means in 1992?
Proposals to upgrade and re-equip the screening facilities at Howth are under active consideration at present. I accept the point made by the Deputy that the discharge of raw sewage into the bay at the nose of Howth, into inland waterways or coastal water is not just objectionable but needs to be eradicated.
The environmental action programme will be carried out over the next ten years. It involves massive expenditure on secondary treatment plants. Where more effective treatment plants are called for in our coastal areas, this work is being undertaken progressively. I will examine the extent to which the screening process can be expedited and ultimately integrated into the scheme that the consultants are presently examining in the context of secondary and tertiary treatment plants.
Is it not well past the time that the Department took the initiative to make a major investment in the sewage outflow facilities into the sea and coastal waters? We have to abide by EC Directives on this matter by 1997, but how can the local authorities deal with this matter if the Government do not take the initiative and provide the funds required to solve the problem?
The Government have not only taken the initiative but we have asked the local authorities to submit a programme of works to eliminate pollution from our inland watercourses and from our major coastal areas. Implementating such a programme will cost £230 million over the course of ten years on inland waters and £400 million on our coastal waters.
Recently I had the opportunity to open a plant in Dún Laoghaire. We expended £13 million on the plant, but now we will be able to get the blue flag for the bay. It is our ambition that in the course of time we will provide the greatest possible resources. We will also negotiate at EC level for moneys from the Structural and Cohesion Funds to enhance, improve and accelerate those programmes as much as we can. The local authorities will have to be able to match these plans. The Government have taken the initiative in this regard and the moneys expended in this area are much greater than anything that was ever considered in this country in the past. The fact of the matter is that the problem has not been resolved and requires additional commitment and resources to solve it.
Will the local authorities be required to upgrade the long sea outfalls which were put in place? Will money be made available to upgrade these outfalls, which predate the EC Directives? Many of these outfalls were installed since the eighties but these directives were not applicable.
The responsibility of each local authority for the schemes they put in place is a secondary matter in the context of overall responsibility when the system is not working properly. As the Deputy will appreciate, some systems that were installed many years ago are still working effectively, but other systems which were installed quite recently are creating problems. When the sewage treatment facilities are inadequate we have to face up to our overall responsibilities in both financial and technical terms and deal with the problem over a planned period, having regard to the resources available at home and from our EC partners. In the final analysis we have an obligation to eliminate pollutants from our waters and we must do everything within the constraints to achieve that.
Is the Minister aware that many local authorities have been taken to court because they caused pollution? Has the Minister prepared a list of the main problems that need to be dealt with immediately and over the next five years? Will the Minister take the initiative to establish a list of priorities and to set aside a sum of money to resolve the problem over the next five to ten years?
Deputy Farrelly asks will I make a list, but what we are talking about is a thorough examination of the problem in all local authority areas and the setting up of a programme which will be developed in consultation with my Department, the local authorities and wider interests where that is necessary, so that we will have an operation programme to submit to the EC for additional resources to deal with these matters. It would be incomprehensible that an operational programme would not set out priorities to be dealt with ahead of other problems which could be postponed for some time. I do not envisage any difficulty in the consultative process and the preparation of an effective and ambitious plan in that regard.
I support the excellent initiative taken by Government in the environmental action programme to address the whole area of sewage treatment and disposal and in the Environmental Protection Agency Bill before the House to which the Minister referred.
I indicated that over 50 per cent of sewage in the greater Dublin area is being disposed of untreated off the nose of Howth. This is totally unaccetable. I am aware that four engineers are working on it on behalf of Dublin Corporation and bringing back reports, but I would ask the Minister to indicate that funding will be available to address this unacceptable situation on the north side of the city compared with the south side where sewage is being treated, and that if the Department were to seek an interim measure to treat the sewage on the north side of the city the Minister would provide the funding to do so?
The Deputy has made his point.
Is there not overcapacity in Kinsealy?
The Deputy is making a long statement.
In conclusion, the Minister referred to a Blue Flag on the Dún Laoghaire side of the bay. The only water sporting amenity on the north side of the city, taking in the huge catchment area I represent——
A speech.
Deputy Callely, this is Question Time.
It is a question.
The Deputy will please conclude?
The water quality——
This speech could last.
Is there not an overcapacity in Kinsealy?
The water quality in Bull Island, Dollymount Strand area does not meet Blue Flag requirements because——
This is tending to debate. Sorry, Deputy, this is quite out of order. I am calling Question No. 12.
Deputy Callely has a reputation for being fairly direct.
He lost it.
On this occasion he is covering the widest possible ground. There is an overall process involving consultants who are looking at the question of what will be necessary to reduce the problem to some extent. When the final report is available to me I will consider it but it is too early to say what resources might be available.
Question No. 12 please.
