John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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This is an important issue. Since first requesting this Adjournment debate, more facts have come to light which confirm my worst suspicions and vindicate the position I have taken on this issue for some time. What we have witnessed during the entire sorry saga of the Ringsend waste water treatment plant is a lack of transparency and accountability as well as a level of incompetence which is difficult to comprehend.

This is not just a story about a bad smell, although at this stage one could justifiably say that the whole thing stinks. It has more to do with bad infrastructural planning and the misuse of taxpayers' money. For some time I have contended, on the basis of off-the-record comments from people working in the plant, that the sewage treatment plant, which was hailed as a state-of-the-art facility, was working at full capacity. It was only after the news item last week, which highlighted the fact that the European Commission was to take legal action against Ireland for breaches of EU directives, that I received further tip-offs about the plant.

I was forced to go to the Commission because I was being fobbed off continually by the city council and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I warmly congratulate the Commission for acting so promptly on foot of my official complaint, but its members will have a lot more on their plate when they discover what has been going on there. It is worth noting that the bulk of money invested in this plant came from the European Union.

Yesterday evening, I attended a meeting of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland where I was given the opportunity to put a number of direct questions to Mr. Mark Driver, operations director, and Ms Jane Bickerstaffe, operations and maintenance manager of the Ringsend waste water treatment plant. When I asked them directly if the plant was now operating at capacity they replied that they were "flat out". I also put a question about whether there was space available to expand the plant. They confirmed that the space was there but that they were dependent on the "powers that be" to supply the finance. Their forthrightness on this matter contrasts with the furtiveness of the Irish authorities. A person in the audience then approached me and told me that the Government was going to give approval for the expansion of the plant because of the capacity problem. This was news to me. Subsequently, I contacted RTE.

The House may recall that last week my colleague, Deputy Sargent, put a direct question to the Taoiseach about the plant. For whatever reason, however, the Taoiseach chose not to reveal this important fact. The Taoiseach ducked and dived in his usual way and all we got from the Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, were sniggers and sneers. I had always thought that the Progressive Democrats, at least, were concerned about value for money, or so they tell us. Do they share my concern about this badly botched infrastructural project?

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I shared a studio during the "News at One" programme last week and when I again raised these important issues the Minister conveniently refused to answer direct questions. The questions I posed then were whether the Government would investigate fully what was going on at that plant and, if sludge was being transported from the plant to Carlow, why did the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government not state that there were fundamental problems at the plant? The city council has been forced to admit that there are problems and that it will have to be expanded. As I understand it, however, the plant is now operating at full capacity. Dublin City Council has clearly miscalculated the load, a fundamental error. This should be a matter of grave concern for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The other major question about this plant is the movement of sludge. The Minister will be aware that the movement of sewage sludge is heavily regulated under EU directives and Irish law. We now learn that serious questions are being raised over the handling of sludge from Ringsend. Sludge is only supposed to leave this plant after being dried and processed into a biological fertiliser, which is called Biofert. However, we learn that large quantities of sludge have been shipped to Carlow for disposal without first being processed into Biofert. We have heard accounts of open lorries transporting liquid sludge under cover of darkness and of unlicensed operators storing and disposing of sludge on agricultural land. Should any of these accounts prove to be true, we are dealing not with incompetence but serious illegality.

The admission that this plant does not have enough capacity to meet the needs of the city should be enough to prompt the Minister to investigate this issue. However, given that there are serious indications of illegal handling of waste, there can be no more excuses. It is time for the Minister, Deputy Roche, to come clean on these issues and order an investigation, which is urgently required.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Gormley for raising this matter which is of major concern to people in the Ringsend area.

The European Commission's proposed legal action concerning odours from sewage plants arose as a result of a complaint about the Greystones waste water treatment plant which, I understand, has long since been resolved. The Commission's concern is no longer particular to any sewage treatment plant but relates to the need to provide general rules for odour control for all such plants.

In so far as the question of odours from treatment plants generally is concerned, my Department is finalising a draft of regulations providing for amendment of the binding rules on sanitary authorities relating to the design, construction, operation and management of urban waste water treatment plants to address odours from such plants. The draft regulations will set requirements for treatment plants to avoid causing nuisance through noise or odours and will require records of all mandatory environmental standards and environmental complaints arising from plants, including noise and odours, to be maintained. The draft regulations will be finalised shortly and a copy will be sent to the Commission to allow it to furnish comments before the regulations are made.

With regard to Ringsend, there is no argument but that there have been intermittent difficulties with odours since the plant was opened. It is a complex and compact facility involving advanced technology. It was absolutely essential to go for an innovative solution to fit the plant into the limited space available on the Ringsend site. Inevitably, some teething problems have been, and are being, vigorously addressed by the city council and by the contractor who operates the plant on the council's behalf.

I accept that when odours have occurred they have been unpleasant for residents who have experienced them. However, following an independent audit commissioned by the council to identify the causes, a programme of works has been implemented which has, I understand, greatly improved the overall situation since the summer of 2004. Unfortunately, the odour problem re-emerged for a short time earlier this year due to maintenance procedures on site, which have since been completed.

The environmental impact statement for the Ringsend treatment plant, certified in 1997, set odour limits to be met at the boundary of the site. These standards were incorporated into the contract the city council entered into with the contracting consortium. Additional odour treatment equipment and measures were progressively incorporated into the plant over the summer of 2004 following the initial problems in meeting the odour limits. These measures have significantly improved the performance of the plant, and the city council is working closely with the consortium in seeking resolution of the outstanding issues to fully comply with the odour standards in the environmental impact statement.

Without in any way diminishing the discomfort the odours have caused, it would be wrong to lose sight of the tremendous boon the Ringsend plant has proved for the people of Dublin and for environmental standards across Dublin bay. The new plant provides advanced secondary waste water treatment, including disinfection, to the exacting standards laid down in the EU urban waste water treatment directive for a population equivalent of 1.7 million people in areas as far apart as Dún Laoghaire, Ratoath, Ashbourne and Portmarnock. The new plant has replaced the basic primary treatment that previously existed for roughly two thirds of the waste water from the Dublin region and no treatment for the remainder which was discharged into the bay in its raw state.

The dumping of untreated sewage has long ceased. Water quality in Dublin bay has radically improved and blue flags can be expected on Dublin beaches this summer, a unique achievement for a European capital. Let us not overlook these positive factors but be assured that any lingering problems with the Ringsend plant are being systematically addressed and will be eliminated for good as quickly as possible.