MINISTER FOR the Environment Phil Hogan was told by the Irish Farmers’ Association yesterday it would strongly oppose new legislation on septic tanks which would impose additional costs on more than 400,000 rural households.
At a first official meeting with the farm organisation, he was told such extra charges would prevent farm families from moving to the countryside
The Minister had told them if Ireland was to comply with a directive relating to ground water quality there would be a cost to farmers and householders with septic tanks.
Speaking following the meeting with a delegation, which both sides described as constructive, Mr Hogan said it was his belief that most septic tanks were working well.
The IFA told him it had been told inspection charges of up to €200 per home would be levied by some local authorities and it opposed this.
The Minister said he was unaware of such pricing on inspection charges. However, he said in order to comply with the European directive and court ruling the Government would have to monitor and inspect the tanks to ensure that.
To do this, he said, service and management agreements would have to be put in place to ensure they continued to work into the future otherwise Ireland would be back before the European Court of Justice on the matter.
He said his department was looking at ways in which monitoring and inspection of septic tanks could take place to ensure they were working properly, and that those who needed to make improvements did so quickly.