I move amendment No. 1:
In page 3, line 20, after "Directives" to insert the following:
"and publish a set of agreed standards for septic tanks and treatment systems".
This amendment proposes the inclusion in the Bill of a reference to "a set of agreed standards". This is very important. We have discussed the standards for septic tanks with the Minister. We are in the dark at the moment. We do not know what standards will apply or what regulation will flow from them. We welcomed a commitment the Minister gave on Committee Stage. I hope he will restate it in public in this Chamber today. He said he intended to provide for a four-week period of consultation on the issue of the standards and regulations applying to septic tanks. That is important. It would have been helpful if that had happened during the run-in to the introduction of this Bill, in advance of the debates on the various Stages. The argument on the vexed question of providing grant aid to assist those who will be forced to comply with these standards has swung back and forwards. After all the debate on the matter, it is clear to me that the Environmental Protection Agency will set out the standards. Those standards will be enforced by inspectors and local authorities, rather than by anybody in this Chamber. We cannot criminalise people in rural areas by imposing fines of up to €5,000 on them if they do not have the wherewithal to upgrade their septic tanks.
Sinn Féin supports the whole notion of having clean water and protecting ground water. There is a need to proceed in a careful way, however. I support the Minister's proposal to adopt a risk-based approach. We agree with him in that regard. The next step should be to set out the standards clearly. We should use the consultation period to make sure people are clear about where this is going. The public should be informed in a clear way of the regulations. They have to be fair. A scheme of grants must be put in place to assist people. Many people in rural areas are in negative equity. They are suffering as a result of increases in the cost of rural transport, home heating oil and car taxes. People in rural areas pay bin charges. I do not know whether they will pay the household charge, but they are facing the prospect of having to do so. This Bill will introduce the septic tank charge. People in group water schemes that have been taken into charge by local authorities are also facing water charges. The problem is that this string of charges is as long as a big shopping list. We have to make a commitment to give some assistance to those affected. This legislation is being pushed through and guillotined. The debate on it will conclude tomorrow. I would like the Minister to outline his pitch on this at some stage today or tomorrow. Kilkenny has a habit of keeping all the surprises until it gets to the final stages of the big match in Dublin.
