Senator calls for 'urgency' on septic tanks grants review

The over-riding environmental focus of grants towards the remediation or upgrading of septic tanks is too restrictive, according to Kildare South based Senator Mark Wall, writes Brian Byrne.

In a statement, Senator Wall notes that only three such grants have been drawn down in Kildare over the last 12 months, even though 'a large number' of homeowners who contacted him over the need to repair or replace their systems.

"In fairness to the local authorities that I have spoken to, they are inspecting the applications they are receiving but because of the current restrictive nature of the application they cannot allow a lot of those a grant at this time," the Senator says. "The Minister states his Department will carry out a review but that needs to happen quickly ... if these tanks are not upgraded they can cause environmental damage, even if that is not near a water course."

He added that just 112 grants were taken up last year across all the local authorities in the state.

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