MORE THAN 90 per cent of new single housing planning applications in some parts of the State will be refused if new waste-water regulations are enforced, an Oireachtas committee report found.
The report of the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny has called on Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to temporarily exempt some parts of the country from requirements under the regulations.
In October 2009, a judgment by the European Court of Justice found Ireland had not complied with a waste-water directive. Following the ruling, the Environmental Protection Agency introduced a new code of practice on waste-water systems. It set out requirements in design, installation and maintenance of on-site waste-water systems such as septic tanks.
The code requires a new set of tests to be carried out on the site of a proposed new house to assess the ability of the soil to absorb water. If absorption is too slow the site is deemed unsuitable.
The committee chairman, Fine Gael TD John Perry, said the current code was a “one size fits all” approach, and failed to take account of important factors such as variations in soil type in different parts of the State.
