Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 September 2011
1 Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when he will introduce the septic tank registration and inspection charge; the rate at which it will be set; if he will consider other alternatives to imposing this charge on rural communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24272/11]
Amharc ar fhreagra2 Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to introduce a publicly funded septic tank registration, inspection and retrofitting scheme, including a scheme of grants, in order to comply with the 1975 Council Directive on Waste, as amended, which the European Court of Justice has ruled that Ireland breached in 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24274/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
On 29 October 2009, the European Court of Justice ruled against Ireland with regard to the treatment of waste waters from septic tanks and other on-site wastewater treatment systems. The court found that by failing to adopt the necessary legislation to comply with Articles 4 and 8 of the 1975 waste directive as regards domestic wastewaters disposed of in the countryside through septic tanks and other individual wastewater treatment systems, Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.
My Department, together with the Office of the Attorney General, is finalising the preparation of a Bill to establish a system of inspection of septic tanks and other on-site systems. I expect to bring the Bill to the Government in the coming weeks, seeking approval for its publication. Full details of how the inspection system will operate will be announced at that time. The new legislation is being framed to minimise the impact on householders, who can be assured that if their systems are working properly and are being maintained, they need not be concerned. Householders will be required to register details of their on-site systems on a national register. This registration will be valid for several years. A nominal fee will be charged for registration. The draft legislation will provide for a proportionate and risk-based approach to inspections. It is intended that inspections will be targeted towards areas where drinking water sources or habitats are likely to be, or have been, impacted upon by septic tank discharges.
Where the new inspection system gives to any costs, including for individual householders, every effort will be made to keep these to a minimum. The key objective of the new legislation will be to enhance and protect public health and the environment, which will in turn benefit rural dwellers in terms of their quality of life. My Department will keep under review the possible options to provide financial support to householders whose systems are deemed, following inspection, to require remediation or upgrading. Any such support would have to have regard to the overall budgetary position and to the financial position of individual households.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Everybody wants to see good quality water, especially groundwater feeding into some public water supplies. It is an issue of vital social importance. There has been much concern expressed to all public representatives because of the charge element. There has also been some confusion in the debate, although we got some clarity in the Minister's statement yesterday when he indicated that he envisaged a fee of no more than €50. It is not clear how often that must be paid because the Minister mentioned it might have to be paid every five years. People are rightly concerned that this may be the thin end of the wedge in the creation of yet another charge.
The issue is rightly being perceived as a division between rural and urban dwellers. Rural householders will pay the €100 household charge in the same way as urban dwellers but in addition, rural householders will have to pay the registration charge. There is a perceived inequity in that respect.
Frame a question, please.
Will the Minister explore the scenario in other jurisdictions where there is no charge associated with inspections? We agree that monitoring must take place for the right reasons but we have the wherewithal within the Department and the Government to bring this monitoring forward without imposing a charge on people. As it stands it will not impact equally on different sections of society. We realise the Government is tied to the EU and IMF agreement but savings have been found as late as yesterday and additional revenue has been raised. There is the capacity to make decisions that will avoid some of the elements of the four year plan and the EU and IMF agreement. The Minister could avoid imposing the charge.
Ireland was roundly condemned in the European Court of Justice in October 2009, during the Deputy's time as part of the Government, but nothing was done. The confusion arose from people like Deputy Ó Cuív, Ms Marian Harkin, MEP, and the IFA, who all voiced the opinion that I intended to introduce a notional charge of €300 per annum for annual inspection and maintenance. I never said anything of the sort or conveyed that view.
I am disappointed there is no wholehearted support for what I am trying to do in ensuring groundwater quality on a risk-based assessment model is being implemented. Nobody wants to see cryptosporidium in Galway or rural and urban households forced to buy bottled water from shops because of poor quality groundwater. That has been the case in many instances.
Deputy Collins was not embroiled to any great extent in this controversy and at least he knew what he was talking about. Deputy Ó Cuív should know, as a former member of a Government, what he signed up to in the revised Fianna Fáil and Green Party programme for Government of 2009. It stated: "We will introduce a scheme for the licensing and inspection of septic tanks and wastewater treatment systems". Has he had a loss of memory? It was not unusual in Fianna Fáil to have loss of memory over the years but I am surprised that a grandson of one of the founders of the party would have lost his memory to the extent——
He did not say he would introduce a charge.
——that he did not understand that he signed up to this document when he was sitting at the Cabinet table.
What charge did he sign up to?
He acknowledged that. I am introducing a nominal charge to pay for the expenses of people who carry out the inspections. There is only one charge, no annual inspection and no confusion.
I am glad to see the Minister is in good form after the summer and the good results and good harvest in Kilkenny.
Up the cats.
We support the need to protect groundwater. There is no equivocation on that. We must do it. We also agree that this situation has been hanging over us since 2009 and it must be addressed. However, we must be careful about charges in the current climate. All wedges have a thin and thick end. A sum of €50 might appear to be a modest amount but we are talking about rural families with significantly increased school transport costs, the universal social charge which all rural dwellers pay from their earnings, increased mortgages and increased fuel bills.
Can we have a question from the Deputy?
I will quickly come to that. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle should give me a minute, as he gave to the last speaker.
There is a regime in other jurisdictions, particularly in the North, under which people do not pay. There is another example in Scotland. We support the risk-based approach as it is necessary to protect groundwater. Local authorities have a significant number of engineers and, as the Minister knows, not many capital works are taking place at present. Will those engineers carry out the inspections? We have no wish to see an army of new inspectors or a new quango being established for that task.
Many dwellings that have been built in the last ten to 15 years in rural areas have very elaborate septic tanks and waste water treatment systems——
Deputy, this is Question Time. I also reminded the last speaker of that fact. Please ask a question.
I have questions for the Minister on a number of points and this is the only opportunity to ask those questions. Is it his intention to introduce an income based grant scheme? Will there be a registration fee or will it be an inspection fee? Will it be an annual fee or three yearly fee? Will the local authorities carry out the inspections?
As the Deputy knows from my original reply, this is a once-off nominal charge for registration purposes. The charge I have in mind is no more than €50 but I will spell out the details of exactly what will be charged in 2012 when the legislation is published in a few weeks and brought before the House. The local government system will do the work; there will be no new empire building by any organisation. The local government staff already in place have spare capacity, as the Deputy correctly pointed out, and will do the job, but that will not be done until 2013 and 2014. There will be no annual inspection charge and no more registration charges.
The once-off registration charge I will introduce next year, for the purpose of meeting some of the costs associated with this for the local authorities, will ensure that groundwater is protected. It is in the interest of every householder, business and employer in this country that we have good groundwater. Inward investment opportunities were lost to this country, as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows, due to the contamination of groundwater supply in County Galway. We have no wish to see that happen anywhere else. It is also in the interest of every householder to have good quality water from the tap rather than having to buy bottled water in the local shop.
I will take brief supplementary questions from Deputy Collins and Deputy Stanley.
Nobody disputes the merits of the scheme. The charge is the issue.
Deputy Ó Cuív did.
A question, please.
The Minister says today there will be a once-off registration charge but his statement yesterday said an interval of five years is envisaged between each registration. Is it a once-off charge or will it be every five years?
It is a once-off charge.
It is now a once-off charge, whereas yesterday it was every five years.
No, it was not. The Deputy asked about the charge and I told him what it would be and that it would be a once-off charge.
The Minister's statement referred to registration every five years.
That is registration but I did not say we would charge every five years.
Okay, that is clear. I will address the other issue.
A question, please.
Can the charge be avoided completely? The Minister has capacity now, following the savings the Government has accrued under the EU-IMF agreement through the interest rate reduction and so forth, to avoid the charge.
Finally, a political charge was made about Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael controls the majority of local authorities in this country, which are the biggest polluters of our waters and rivers. If he wishes to point the finger politically at who is responsible for this, he should look to his own party first. Fine Gael is in charge of the majority of the local authorities and they did not drive forward with the water investment services programme that was in place. They did not avail of it. That is a fact.
With regard to the maintenance regime for septic tanks, will householders be required to keep a maintenance log for de-sludging and so forth? What are the Minister's intentions in that regard? To clarify the issue of the registration fee and inspection fee, are they one and the same or will there simply be a registration fee and no inspection fee thereafter?
For the third time, there will be no annual inspection charge. I realise it is a disappointing for some people that this is the case and that I do not intend to take more money from people. There is a property tax in Northern Ireland which is a source of income——
Even the Minister cannot claim a win on this.
It is amazing, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and I know you will agree with me, that after 14 years of Fianna Fáil in Government it is now Fine Gael's fault that there are problems in rolling out the waste water and water services programme. It is unbelievable that the Deputy has such a brass neck even to make that assertion——
Fine Gael is in control of all the local authorities and they are the biggest polluters——
The Deputy's party has been in Government——
A total of 90% of the pollution is from Fine Gael-controlled local authorities.
Can I answer the question, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle?
The Minister without interruption.
The Deputy's party in Government put us in the current financial mess and ceded our economic sovereignty under the EU-IMF programme. The Deputy's party is responsible for that and we are faced with the responsibility of picking up the mess, including septic tanks, to protect groundwater as a result of the Deputy's party's decisions. Fianna Fáil did nothing since 2009 to deal with this.
Fine Gael is in charge of local authorities.
We are now cleaning up the mess, literally and metaphorically.
We are over time on this question.
We must do so after the European Court of Justice decision. Otherwise we will have to pay €2.9 million before the end of the year from taxpayers' funds as a result of Fianna Fáil's inactivity.
Another stealth tax.
We will proceed with Question No. 3.
Will householders have to keep a maintenance log?
That detail will be outlined in the legislation.
