In what is observed as a major u-turn this evening, Environment Minister, Mr Phil Hogan, speaking from Dundrum House Hotel in Co Tipperary, has announced a reduced inspection fee for rural septic tank inspection.
Mr Hogan said the anticipated fee for septic tank inspection, will now be reduced from €50 to just €5, for the first three months, while the charge is being introduced. He stated this lower rate was an incentive for septic tank owners to register early, with the deadline for registration being March of next year.
Mr Hogan said that full new guidelines, regarding septic tank standards, will be announced in the coming days. He also stated that this legislation will now ensure that if people’s septic tank systems are working properly, the impact of the new system will be minor.
Phil Hogan’s Presentation On Septic Tanks Clearly Bogus
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a farm sustaining 2,500 cows has the ability to produce the equivalent in waste matter as a city containing 400,000 residents. Animal feeding operations annually produce about 100 times more manure than the amount of human sewage sludge processed in US municipal waste-water plants.
Ireland’s rural human population is numbered at about 1.6 to 1.8 million and these human statistics surely are dwarfed by a rural population of necessary animals which can include Deer, Pigs, Sheep, Poultry and Cattle. Surely any seepage from malfunctioning domestic septic tanks is insignificant, particularly when compared to the amount of animal waste pumped directly onto land as slurry.
I won’t even enter into discussion on the use of pesticides, antibiotics and over use of nitrogen, the rules for which most EU Governments have failed to meet their obligations under existing law, in an effort to protect rural residents and communities.
Farmers in Tipperary and Offaly were allowed “as an exceptional measure,” to spread slurry until the end of October in 2011. This decision was gifted by Minister Hogan, who extending the deadline because “weather conditions were beyond farmers control and this extension will make life easier on farmers in Tipperary and Offaly.”
Perhaps elected representatives in opposition, might waken up and seek proper clarity on where all of this is headed.
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