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Owners of older septic tanks will not be forced to upgrade
them to the latest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards
under the Water Services Bill, Minister for the Environment
Phil Hogan said last week.
Providing what he said was “a lot of reassurance” on the
controversial septic tanks issue, Mr Hogan also said he may
yet introduce a grant scheme for householders whose septic
tanks are found to be polluting watercourses.
He also told an all-day sitting of the Oireachtas Committee
on the Environment that where septic tanks needed improvement
work, that work would be exempt from planning permission.
It was already an offence for waste-water systems to discharge
pollution to a watercourse, he said, accusing a number of
politicians, including Éamon Ó Cuív and Mattie McGrath, of
whipping up public concern by “spreading misinformation” on
the new Bill.
Mr Hogan said Ireland had lost a case at the European Court
of Justice and was now facing substantial fines.
“We are here because we lost a court case, I could blame
a lot of people for the reasons we are here,” he said. “I
would remind Mr Ó Cuív this case would not be going on now
if he had done his business - he and his predecessors.”
Referring to the standards for septic tanks which would be
put in place under the Water Services Bill, Mr Hogan said
the current EPA guidelines which date from 2009, applied “only
to new build”.
He acknowledged that many septic tanks across the State were
decades old and said septic tanks dating from the 1980s or
1970s, or even earlier, would not be subject to that particular
EPA guidance.
“I am going for a risk-based approach,” he said, adding that
this was “less onerous” than the current EPA standard or the
annual inspection system in place in Co Cavan.
He would wait, he said, until the results of the first inspections
to assess whether a grant system would be put in place. “But
I am not going to write a blank cheque,” he added.
Mr Ó Cuív took issue with the assertion that the 2009 Environmental
Protection Agency standards would not apply, while he acknowledged
that Mr Hogan’s comments provided for better progress than
had been made in previous debates.
Mr Ó Cuív said the Bill provided for a national inspection
plan to be drawn up - but the EPA would be responsible for
making such a plan, he said and suggested the authority would
not tolerate a situation where different standards would apply
to septic tanks across the Republic.
Mr Ó Cuív also said the inspection system, based on a €50
registration fee, would not pay for itself. He said the concern
was that charges would be passed on to the householder.
Source - The Irish Times
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