asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the manner in which the different grades of petrol are defined; and whether there is any agency that carries out tests on the various petrols so that consumers may be assured that the stated quality is the correct one.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Petrol Grades.
27.
There is no legal definition of different grades of petrol and no fully satisfactory composition test has yet been devised. The Institute for Industrial Research and Standards in 1971 had tests carried out on petrol as sold here and found that the anti-knock properties of the various grades compared favourably with the specifications drawn up by the British Standards Institute earlier in that year. These criteria deal only with anti-knock properties—and not quality generally—and are not even fully satisfactory in assessing that aspect, because a lot depends on the engine in which the petrol is used. The tests I have mentioned involved using a specially inspected and maintained standard engine. For these reasons I do not think it is practicable, until better tests are devised, to lay down statutory standards.
Have the public any protection against suppliers in this matter? Would he accept that any mixture could be put into the pumps, 75 per cent of one grade and 25 per cent of another? Is there any remedy for this problem?
A completely satisfactory technical remedy is not easy. On the occasion when the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards carried out a check of the kind indicated, the result was satisfactory. The petrol obtainable here compared favourably with the grades four-star, three-star and two-star ratings in the British Standards Institute standards. The tests were not easy nor perfect. If the Deputy has any indication that unsatisfactory petrol is being supplied, he should tell me. If I am satisfied that there is substance in it, I will request the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards to repeat the tests they did previously.
Is there any machinery in the Department whereby monitoring or periodic testing is carried out in this area of petrol supply to consumers?
There is no regular testing. I have indicated that the actual technique of testing and this is a worldwide——
I am not interested in what is happening world wide but what is happening here.
——is unsatisfactory in terms of final definition. There is not continuous monitoring. The monitoring done was not very satisfactory nor very easy to do. If there is an indication that it is necessary, we can certainly do it again.
Will the Minister accept that the petrol companies must have some way of grading petrol? He also mentioned that the British Standards Institute have a way of grading. Is it not open to us to make use of those methods?
We have done that and can do it again. My point was that we do not do tests repeatedly as a matter of course.