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Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Mar 1977

Vol. 86 No. 3

Local Government (Water Pollution) Bill, 1976 [Seanad Bill amended by Dáil]: Report and Final Stages.

This is a Seanad Bill which has been amended by the Dáil. In accordance, therefore, with Standing Order No. 75, it is deemed to have passed its First, Second and Third Stages in the Seanad and is placed on the Order Paper for Report Stage. On the question "That the Bill be received for final consideration", the Minister may explain the purport of the amendments made by the Dáil and this is looked upon as the report of the Dáil amendments to the Seanad. The only matters, therefore, that may be discussed are the amendments made by the Dáil.

For the convenience of Senators, I arranged for the printing and circulation to them of a list of the amendments made by the Dáil.

Question proposed: "That the Bill be received for final consideration".

A number of amendments, mainly of a drafting nature, were made to the Bill in the course of its passage through the Dáil and I will comment briefly on each of them.

Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 10 on the list which has been circulated are similar. They provide for updating of the collective citation of the Fisheries Acts in sections 1 and 3 of the Bill which was necessitated by the enactment of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1976, which became law following the passing of this Bill by the Seanad.

Amendments Nos. 3, 5 and 30 are related. Amendment No. 3 amends the definition of "local authority" in section 1 to include the Corporation of Dún Laoghaire with the corporations of the county boroughs and councils of the counties in the definition for the purposes of this Bill. Amendments Nos. 5 and 30 are consequential on amendment No. 3. Amendment No. 5 applies the provisions of the County Management Acts relating to the performance of "reserved functions" by Dún Laoghaire Corporation to the reserved function of making water quality management plans under section 15 of this Bill, and amendment No. 30 provides that the expenses of Dublin county council under this Bill will be charged on the county exclusive of the borough of Dún Laoghaire.

Amendments Nos. 4 and 30 are related. As the term "monitoring", which is used in sections 4, 16 and 22 of the Bill, is open to a number of possible interpretations, it was considered desirable to define it for the purposes of the Bill. The definition provided for in amendment No. 4 includes the various activities, such as inspection, measurement, sampling and analysis, coming within the meaning of the term as used in the Bill. Amendment No. 23 is a minor drafting amendment which is consequential on amendment No. 4.

Amendment No. 6 inserts a new subsection—subsection (8)—in section 2 of the Bill requiring the Water Pollution Advisory Council to make a report to the Minister each year of their activities in the preceding year and requires the Minister to cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Amendments Nos. 7, 11, 12, 15, 16 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28 and 29 are related. They are purely drafting amendments necessitated by the recent setting up of a separate Department of Fisheries. They provide for the substitution of "Minister for Fisheries" for "Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries" wherever the latter term appears in the Bill.

With regard to amendment No. 8, the Bill as passed by the Seanad provided, by virtue of section 3 (5) (a), that the general prohibition in section 3 on the entry of polluting matter to waters would not apply to trade or sewage effluents. The reason for this was that section 4, which sets up a licensing system, deals with the control of such effluents. Section 4 (10), however, allows for exemption of certain classes of licensable effluents. The classes of effluent which are likely to be considered for exemption by regulations under subsection (10) of section 4 are effluents which, in the generality of cases, are unlikely to cause pollution problems—for example, discharges from septic tanks serving individual houses—and may not warrant the inconvenience and administrative cost of licensing. Any effluent so exempted would, under the Bill as passed by the Seanad, be subject neither to the licensing provisions of section 4 nor the general prohibition in section 3. While, as I have said, the effluents concerned pose little or no pollution threat, it was nevertheless considered desirable to amend section 3 (5) (a) to provide that any effluent exempted from the licensing requirements of section 4 by regulations made under subsection (10) of that section would be brought within the scope of the general prohibition in section 3, unless it complied with any relevant standard which may be prescribed under section 26. Amendment No. 8 makes this change. Amendment No. 9 covers a minor drafting point. It substitutes the word "section" for "sections" in section 3 (5) (c).

Business suspended at 3.40 p.m. and resumed at 4 p.m.

Amendments Nos. 13 and 25 are related. While I would emphasise that it would be the intention to consult the Water Pollution Advisory Council in relation to the making of important regulations under this legislation even if there were no specific statutory requirement to do so, Members of both Houses seemed anxious to ensure that there should be a consultation requirement in relation to specific issues. Senators will recall that amendments requiring such consultation were made by this House in the case of sections 25, 26 and 27. Amendments Nos. 13 and 25 now require consultation with the council also in relation to the making of regulations under two additional sections. These are regulations under section 4(10) exempting effluents from the licensing requirements of section 4 and regulations under section 24 dealing with the important issue of consultation between local authorities, boards of conservators and other interested bodies in the exercise of relevant powers and duties under this legislation.

Amendments Nos. 14 and 22 are related. They incorporate a provision in sections 6 and 19, which deal with the making of regulations prescribing mainly procedural matters relating to applications for and appeals in respect of licences for discharges to waters and to sewers, to the effect that where a person is convicted of making a statement in writing which is false or to his knowledge misleading in relation to a licence application or an appeal, any licence issued to that person consequent on the application or the appeal will be automatically revoked.

Amendment No. 20 is simply a drafting amendment to eliminate a slight inconsistency in terminology. The amendment brings the wording of section 16 (1) into line with sections 4 (1) (a), 5 (4) and 18 (4) in which the word "date" is used.

Question put and agreed to.
Question "That the Bill do now pass" put and agreed to.

I should like to thank the Senators for the way in which they approached and dealt with the Bill. I am most grateful to all Senators who contributed to the improvement. I was not here when it was passing through the House originally. My Parliamentary Secretary, who is now Minister for Defence, was present and, on his behalf, I should like to thank the House for the way in which it was dealt with. I hope the Bill will enable all interests involved, including local authorities, fishery interests, the Water Pollution Advisory Council and other bodies concerned, to make a significant contribution towards the objective of keeping our waters free of pollution. I am very grateful to the Press for the way in which they have reported this Bill because I think it is of great importance. I was rather disappointed to find that two national newspapers the Irish Independent on Saturday last and The Irish Times on Monday last chose to publish second leading articles which were written, obviously, by somebody who either did not read the Bill or, if they did, did not understand it. This is doing a disservice to the excellent work done by both Houses and the many people who have recommended portions which have been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

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