Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 878: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will name the 78 dangerous substances mentioned in the EPA report issued in the 6 April 2001 in relation to item 24 of the European Court of Justice judgement C-282/02; the locations of where these dangerous substances were located within the State; and if a copy of the report will be made available. [19577/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Environmental Protection Agency instigated a survey of Irish surface waters in 1999-2000 to establish the occurrence of certain toxic metals, pesticides and other organic compounds. The survey related to 78 substances and the results are detailed in the EPA report entitled A Survey of Dangerous Substances in Surface Freshwaters 1999-2000, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library.

The survey was carried out on a countrywide basis. A list of the substances targeted in the survey and a map illustrating the rivers surveyed and sampling points is included in the report. The selected sampling points were those sites where the presence of such substances was considered most likely to occur. The report indicated that there is no evidence of pollution from any of the targeted pesticides and other organic substances. In two cases concentrations of copper, lead and zinc were found which exceeded recognised limits in freshwaters. Pollution by copper, lead and zinc arose in the case of the Avoca River, which is seriously polluted as a result of past mining operations and which was subject of a recent study by the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board. The presence of lead was detected in the River Boyne but was not confirmed by subsequent sampling.