Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 September 2014
23. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of septic tank grants issued to date; the number of inspections undertaken and the number of failures on a county basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34335/14]
View answerThe Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 assigns responsibility to the EPA to make a National Inspection Plan for domestic wastewater treatment systems. The National Inspection Plan 2013: Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems was adopted and published by the EPA in February 2013. The Plan provided for a minimum of 1,000 inspections to be carried out by the local authorities in the 12 month period up to July 2014. The EPA subsequently informed the local authorities that a further 500 inspections on a pro-rata basis should be carried out during the period July to December 2014. Details of the minimum number of inspections to be carried out in each county are included in the Plan.
My Department does not have any direct role in monitoring the implementation of the EPA’s Plan by the local authorities. However, the EPA has conducted an interim review on the implementation of the National Inspection Plan for the period from July 2013 to February 2014. The report, which is available on the Agency’s website at www.epa.ie contains a breakdown by county of inspections that have taken place and the number of non-compliant treatment systems for which advisory notices were issued. The Agency has also indicated that it intends to carry out a review of the first year’s operation of the inspection plan and I understand that a public consultation regarding this review will be undertaken with the aim of developing a new inspection plan for the five years commencing in January 2015. The number of inspections to be carried out under the new plan is a matter for the EPA.
Applications for grant aid in respect of remediation works are submitted to, and processed by, the local authorities who then seek recoupment of the amounts paid from my Department. To date, nine applications for recoupment of grants made by the local authorities towards the remediation of failing domestic wastewater treatment systems have been submitted to my Department.
