Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The system is inspected but the ground water is tested to make sure everything is working properly. The objective of the exercise is to ensure we have non-contamination of ground water from septic tanks. That is the ruling from the European Court of Justice. We are doing our best to comply with it through a risk-based approach. I am not introducing a universal system of inspection, which some people said I was going to do during the summer months, or have a €300 annual inspection charge. I do not think Senator Ó Clochartaigh did not get in on the act, to be fair to him. He was not as bad as some of the others.