Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a different issue. A significant number of substances and pharmaceutical products are on a priority list which cannot be added to water. We are reviewing the legislation to see what additional products we can add to either a watch list or the priority list. The priority list is much more serious and if certain products are on it, end of pipe solutions to ensure water is purified and clean to the extent that these products do not end up in it will cost a great deal of money in terms of upgrading water and wastewater treatment works. The UK Government has stated that if the current proposal were to be implemented, it would cost £20 billion over 20 years. That is a lot of money. This shows the legislation going through the European Parliament arising from proposals tabled can have a major impact when implemented. We must watch these issues very carefully. We want good quality water and to ensure we do not have harmful substances in water, but at the same time we want to do this in such a way that countries will have a lead-in time to adapt to the changes without a very onerous difficult financial burden being created in the short term. We are moving the proposal along and expect to get agreement between now and the end of June.