Deputy Rabbitte mentioned the phenomenon of flushing money down the toilet. I want to raise a related issue dealing with sewage treatment, which in more ways than one is another example of flushing money down the toilet. At the opening of the Ringsend treatment plant, the Taoiseach covered himself in glory opening what he called a state-of-the-art facility. The fact it was based on old census figures, that it creates an almighty smell and that his Government has not carried out any official investigation, but uses money on a daily basis to try to patch up what was a botched job is a salient lesson.

This is particularly true for people who met last night in large numbers in Portrane in north County Dublin to hear about a surprise proposal to turn what was a perfectly acceptable plan for a sewage treatment plant suitable for a population of 65,000 into one which we are informed will cost €2.6 billion and will serve more than 1 million people. This has come out of the blue as another example of a project to suit "Mr. Big". Even from a technical perspective, whatever about the politics, a large treatment plant will be prone to odours because the effluent must travel such distances in air-free pipes and there will be a stinking mess by the time it arrives at the treatment plant. Can the Taoiseach take on board the clear scientific observations that have been made repeatedly by the community in Ringsend and by people who know about sewage treatment? Can he also take on board that this plan will hide the cowboy polluter? It will be more difficult to trace the source of whatever is being put down the toilet at a greater distance from the treatment plant.

In the interests of his own party in terms of the next election, I ask the Taoiseach to take Deputy Glennon's wishes into account. Speaking on radio today, the Deputy stated he found this proposal unacceptable and was going to bring it to the Taoiseach's attention. The Taoiseach should put Deputy Glennon out of his misery and state whether he agrees with him. Will the Taoiseach state it is wrong to go ahead with this proposal? Will the Taoiseach allow the county council to proceed with the original plant suitable for a population of 65,000? Ultimately, will he respect the wishes of the local councillors who will also reject it, or will he, as he has done previously, overturn the decision and throw out democracy? Will the Taoiseach respect the wishes of the local councillors?

The Green Party is against everything.

We want the plant that was planned.

The Deputy should go back to the county council if he wishes to oppose this.

The Government does not listen to the council.

The Deputy is the leader of a national party. This matter should be dealt with by the council and not in this House.

The Sandymount plant scheme mentioned by the Deputy was a great work by the engineering section of Dublin City Council, working in partnership with the private sector to bring about a totally modern scheme. I am aware there have been some difficulties in trying to deal with all the problems. While I am not a member of the city council, my understanding is that the council's engineers have been trying to surmount them.

Nevertheless, the council has done an enormous amount of work to alleviate the massive problems of pollution that we had in Dublin Bay for the last two generations. It is great to see the beaches on the coastline along Dublin Bay again receiving environmental flags this summer. That has been an enormous and dramatic change brought about by the investment in the scheme.

I will not answer local authority matters. I am answerable for enough other matters. If the council has a project in Donabate and is talking to local residents, I am sure that between them, the local public representatives will make their view clear. Undoubtedly, Deputy Glennon will also make his views clear, and hopefully Deputy Sargent will support them.

The Taoiseach still has not stated whether there will be an investigation into how Ringsend became such a botched job. I still want an answer.

It is under investigation.

I do not see the results.

No one is taking responsibility.

It is not at all satisfactory for the Taoiseach to state he is leaving it up to the council. The European Court will be down on his head on the basis of his failure to, as the European Commission press release puts it, put in place satisfactory rules to prevent malodours from urban waste water treatment plants in accordance with the EU Waste Framework Directive. It is the Government's job to put such measures in place for the local authorities to comply with. The Government has not done so. It has also informed the European Commission that it will introduce promised legislation to better regulate the management of such plants. However, in January, the European Commission noted this has not materialised. The European Commission has been very polite about this matter. Essentially, it is threatening to take the Government to court. I again ask if the Taoiseach will give this matter the priority it needs. Will he learn the lesson from the Ringsend plant and focus on the original plan, which was to have more localised sustainable and manageable plants serving the communities which need them? Has the Taoiseach learned that lesson yet? Will he learn it before he goes cruising for a bruising electorally and legally, as the European Commission will not stand for the current position?

The issue of the treatment plant in Sandymount pertains to the air filter. The difficulties are being examined.

It is a capacity problem.

Deputy Gormley should note that his leader is quite competent to ask questions.

He is not competent to answer them.

The city council has been endeavouring to deal with the air filtering system and some other technical problems which its engineers pointed out last year, after conducting some surveys.

That is incorrect.

As for the second question, the legislation is necessary — in dealing with the EU, all these matters are necessary. However, the Deputy is aware that we have spent approximately €1.5 billion on 75 new waste water treatment schemes around the country, which has brought a major improvement to the quality of water in rivers and lakes. New waste water schemes are being provided with secondary treatment facilities for every location with a population of over 1,000. There have been more schemes such as these in the last few years than in previous generations.

They are smaller plants.

They are the best in Europe.

It has been stated by the European Commission that some of the work done on this has led to extremely high quality water. The Water Services Bill 2003, which is before the Houses, will consolidate and modernise the code of water services. We could not have done that if we had not invested the money we did in these waste water schemes.

Smaller plants work better.

If they work better, then they should be discussed at council level.

What is the view of the Government?

Allow the Taoiseach without interruption.

If the residents of Donabate have concerns, I have no doubt that they will put those concerns to their public representatives. Those concerns will be dealt with by the planners and engineers of the appropriate councils who are well used to listening to people's concerns. Hopefully they will come to a satisfactory resolution.

The Deputy must acknowledge the dramatic improvements in water quality and in dealing with sewage and effluent. In areas of population growth, we are trying to provide the proper and efficient services that are required. The population is projected to grow in 15 years to 5 million and we need to make further investments in these services. We must not go back to the position where we pumped waste water into the bay and polluted it.

No one is suggesting that we do that.

We have stopped that and must make sure we do not go back to that situation.