Madam, – The call by Clare County Councillors to remove the special role of An Taisce in planning and the response of Gavin Harte (May 17th) represent unnecessarily polarised positions. As a long-term member of An Taisce and a county councillor, I admire most of what An Taisce has been doing over the years, except for its policy in relation to one-off houses.
Mr Harte’s letter is a prime example of how An Taisce, its associates in the Irish Planning Institute and others have consistently misrepresented the alleged threat to Ireland’s ground waters from septic tanks. Mr Harte’s selective reference to a 2005 EPA report in relation to groundwater quality ignores the consistent identification of municipal discharges from deficient local authority systems as by far the greatest threat to groundwater. Most recently this is confirmed in the EPA’s Water Quality in Ireland 2007-2009 report. The recently published River Basin Management Plans which, under the EU water framework directive, are designed to secure “good water status” by 2015, accurately identify the hierarchy of threats to groundwater.
Septic tanks represent by far the least threat; with defective municipal plants the prime culprits in all River Basin areas. Government plans for the compulsory inspection of septic tanks will further decrease this minimal threat to groundwaters. – Yours, etc,