‘Govt punishing rural householders’

The Government has been lambasted for its decision to “punish rural households” through the introduction of a septic tank charge.

The €50 charge is contained in the Water Services Amendment Bill, which was passed by TDs by 76 votes to 34 last Thursday, despite 500 local protestors making their opposition to the legislation known during a mass protest outside the Dáil.

Under the legislation, anyone who owns a septic tank or a wastewater treatment system needs to register in 2012. Amendments to the bill are now due to be considered in the Seanad today (Wednesday).

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is currently in discussions with the European Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the performance standard guidelines that will have to be adhered to by septic tank and wastewater systems in 2013.

Before finalising regulations on the guidelines, including the requirements for maintenance and desludging, there will be a four-week period of public consultation. After this period has been completed and the regulations have been set, a registration system will be in place in local authority offices and online. The one-off fee of €50 will apply to all registrations.

Inspections will commence in 2013 and will be on a risk-based system, whereby the EPA will be responsible for targeting areas where they believe the ground water is of poor quality due to contamination.

Local protestors have raised concerns that County Galway, and Connemara in particular, will be disproportionately impacted by the new legislation and Sinn Féin Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh has suggested that the Government has now chosen to implement a “policy of discrimination”.

“This is a cruel, unjust austerity measure,” he said, adding that huge confusion exists as to the implementation of the €50 registration charge.

“So far we know that government inspectors will be sent out to rural homes to assess septic tanks. However, we remain completely in the dark with regard to the standards and criteria to be adopted,” he said.

“Sinn Féin has repeatedly demanded that Minister Hogan publish the standards so we know exactly how this legislation will impact on rural households. We have also called on the minister to give us details on how he expects householders to upgrade septic tanks when families simply cannot afford to do so.

“Upgrading may cost anything up to €17,000. But again the minister has at best been vague and at worst dismissive of people’s financial concerns. In fact, the bill contains threats of fines of up to €5,000 for those who cannot comply with the upgrades,” he said.

The Carraroe Senator also said that the Government is refusing to take responsibility for the failure to comply with an EU Directive that is over 35 years old, which lead to the introduction of the bill.

“Instead, they have chosen to rush through a piece of legislation that will force householders to once again foot the bill of government negligence,” he said.