Mr. Kevin McPartlan:

This is really important because the standards that are set at European level are very strict and very well enforced. The testing is in accordance with a European standard. It is undertaken by Fuels for Ireland, but the sampling and analysis and all the chain of custody is beyond anything we have any control over. We do pay the bill. We are very happy not to pay the bill. The Government is required to do this and we do it as an act of good faith. We communicated that to the Department of Transport in case it would reassure people that the testing is more independent. All the samples are taken from forecourts, because that is where our chain of custody ends. It is exactly the same fuel that goes into a forecourt as would go into a haulier's yard. If there is a problem after it has left our control then there are all sorts of other things over which we do not have control such as tank hygiene and other elements which I will not go into. We have to look at where else the problem can exist because we can categorically establish with objective analysis that the fuel that is dispensed by the tanker going into a yard or into a forecourt is meeting the standard. We can see where it has gone wrong. It happened in Scotland a couple of years ago that there was a genuine problem with fuel quality where vehicles were strewn all over the place.

I had to take the opportunity to clarify that.