Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh:

With regard to the infringement action, we recently received a letter of formal notice, which is the first stage in any possible action, from the Commission in regard to the Water Framework Directive. It revisits a number of areas that had come up previously that we had hoped to have dealt with in a water environment Bill which did not proceed, given other priorities on the water side. It is quite lengthy but much of it is technical in regard to whether our definitions are completely aligned with the directive, as well as there being some substantive issues, for example, in regard to the absence of control on abstractions, which is what the abstraction Bill is to deal with. We have just received it and it is quite complex. We will engage with it to try to understand the full implications and we will then go back to the Commission.