Mary White (Fianna Fail)

The Minister is welcome. I stated previously that Fianna Fáil is totally opposed to this Bill being rushed through. We understand that our water must be up to the highest standards for human health and for the pharmaceutical industry here. However, let us focus on the inspector issue. Each inspector must pay a registration fee of €1,000 and must pay the same fee each time they re-register. This money is to cover the costs of the Environmental Protection Agency largely in the preparation and control of the national inspection plan. It is unclear how often the inspectors must re-register or how many inspectors will be allowed on the register. Therefore, it is not clear how much revenue will accrue to the EPA. How much will this process cost someone who wishes to be an inspector? If one must pay a registration fee of €1,000 and carry professional indemnity insurance amounting to approximately €1,500 as well as attend a certified training course estimated to cost €2,500, then it will cost at least €5,000 to become an inspector and between €1,000 and €2,500 annually to renew the registration. This is a considerable burden and one would need to be confident that the investment of time and money would reap a reward for the inspector.

Unfortunately, the Bill gives no detail on how the inspectors are to be engaged by the EPA or local authorities for individual inspections. Once an inspector is on the register, will they be required to quote fees for individual assignments? How will such fees be determined? Some inspections may be purely visual while other may require opening up works or laboratory testing of samples. If inspectors are on the register will they be guaranteed a certain minimum amount of work? Will they get a return on their investment given the cost of becoming an inspector?