James Bannon (Fine Gael)

This is a technical amendment to clarify the subsection on licensing of discharges to sewers. The purpose of this amendment is to take into account circumstances where it might be used in a negligent manner. There are circumstances where the licences have been abandoned. Renewal of licences can be a vehicle to introduce charges. The Minister of State has not elaborated on whether there will be a cost for the registration and annual renewal of these licences with the water service authority. It will apply to large group water schemes with membership over 50 participants. However, this could be reduced to include group schemes with membership of just three participants. My amendment proposes to avoid the potential for this development. On Committee Stage, the Minister of State agreed to re-examine this amendment.