Many people wanting to build in Leitrim are not even applying for planning permission at all due to the problems with septic tanks.
Anyone hoping to build a one-off rural house is hampered by regulations which mean that many sites in the county are simply not suitable for the conventional septic tank due to the poor soil quality.
Director of Services Joseph Gilhooley said there’s no ‘silver bullet’ solution to this problem.
He says it’s impossible to know how many potential planning applications are not even being submitted because of it:
