THE LEADER of Connemara’s campaign against septic tank charges says that county-by-county support will be sought for a national protest in Dublin.
Páraic An Tailliúra Ó Conghaola says that with up to 1.5 million people affected by the legislation, the Government will have to revisit the issue.
“There are 475,000 septic tanks in the State, and that’s an awful lot of votes,” Mr Ó Conghaola warned. “We have no problem paying a registration fee, but it looks as if 75 per cent of tanks fitted in good faith under Galway County Council planning guidelines will need thousands of euro worth of upgrade to meet new criteria,” Mr Ó Conghaola said. “We just wanted to be treated in the same way as urban dwellers, with equal State responsibility for our waste water.”
Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan last month accused critics of legislation proposing changes to rules governing septic tanks of “scaremongering”. Mr Hogan said the Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011 was required to ensure Ireland complied with a 2009 European Court of Justice ruling, and to improve water quality and protection of the environment.
Mr Hogan has said that while registration will be “universal”, with a €50 registration fee, the subsequent inspection would be “risk-based” to ensure Environmental Protection Agency guidelines were met. He has pointed to Co Cavan as being a model, in ensuring compliance with EU requirements as far back as 2004.
Mr Ó Conghaola said some rural dwellers could end up paying €10,000 for septic-tank upgrades.
His campaign group of an estimated 400 took its protest inside Galway council chambers last month, where it was joined by Fianna Fáil deputy leader and Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív – leading to an adjournment of the meeting.
The leader addressed the group from a protest “toilet” outside county hall, as did several councillors, Mr Ó Cuív and Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish.
Independent Galway councillor Seosamh Ó Cuaig said he had never witnessed a protest like it. “It was the closest Galway ever got to Tiananmen Square – it was some ruaille buaille,” he said.
An absence of mains waste water treatment in many rural communities had resulted in people paying large amounts on septic-tank construction and maintenance at personal, rather than taxpayers’ cost, Mr Ó Conghaola said. Even more recent septic tank designs might not meet standards.
“One man told me he’d need a helicopter to get into his septic tank, so it looks as if there could be an awful lot of work for helicopter companies. They’ve already taken away our fish, large parts of the mountains are restricted under special areas of conservation, our gas is gone, you can’t pick scallops and they want to turn us into a tourist theme park.”
Mr Ó Conghaola, a father of five, worked in construction in England for 27 years and returned to settle near Rossaveal, Co Galway, in the early 1990s. He said his background is Fine Gael but he is “apolitical”. His father was a tailor – hence his own middle name – in Rossaveal and made suits for politicians such as former Galway mayor Fintan Coogan.
“It was thanks to Raidió na Gaeltachta that we realised the full impact of this legislation, and a lot of people in other counties are only realising the implications now,” he said. “If we even had a couple of hundred people from each county joining us in a national protest, that is a substantial demonstration.”
A spokesman for Mr Hogan said the Government would proceed with the legislation, which was an EU requirement, and there would be no deviation. People who do not register septic tanks could face fines of up to €5,000 under the legislation, the department has said. Mr Ó Cuív has threatened to go to jail rather than pay.
