Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 and 138 together.

I am informed by the State Laboratory, who work closely with the Revenue Commissioners in the area of fuel fraud, that the State Laboratory uses a range of tests to establish whether a petrol or diesel sample meets required specifications and to check for fuel contamination. The exact suite of tests applied depends on the whether a petrol or diesel sample is to be tested and could include any of the following tests: specific gravity; distillation characteristics; simulated distillation profiles; methanol; ethanol; oxygenates; olefins and aromatics; lead; manganese; sulphur; RON and MON. Tests may also be carried out to check for the presence of a range of different fuel markers.

The types of instruments used in the tests include density meters, automated distillation units, UV-Vis spectrophotometers, gas chromatogaphs, gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer detector, high performance liquid chromatographs, X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometer and a wide range of other commonly available laboratory equipment.

The accuracy and precision (repeatability) characteristics of test methods depend on the sample preparation and analysis technique used, the matrix being tested and the level of analyte present. These parameters have been determined via validation studies for all test methods used by the State Laboratory for routine testing of petrol and diesel samples.

However because contamination of petrol and diesel can occur in many different ways, analyses carried out to test for contamination may also involve some non-routine testing, and accuracy and precision values determined during validation may not be fully applicable.

The State Laboratory has Service Level Agreements in place with all its client Departments and Offices and operates on the basis of agreed turn around times for results to be reported. In the case of Revenue Prosecution samples in the hydrocarbon oils area, the agreement is that 80% of samples will be reported within 50 days. However, achieving this target will depend on the types of samples submitted and the testing required, and on the numbers of samples being within expected levels. Also, at the request of Revenue, testing of priority samples takes precedence, which could have a negative impact on the turn around times for less urgent samples.