With more than 90% of the EU’s river basins affected by nitrate and phosphorous pollution, the European Commission has recommended use of technological advances that can slash waste and improve productivity.

IRELAND could be hauled before the European Court of Justice for failing to adequately charge farms and businesses for water usage.

POLLUTION emissions from the pharmaceutical sector have fallen by 40% over the past decade due to greater regulation, a study has found.

The European Commission is asking Ireland to comply with a 2005 ruling by the EU's Court of Justice regarding waste disposal, it emerged today.

OUR unenviable reputation for being a rain-sodden country doesn’t take in the slightest from the challenge of ensuring the supply and quality of water here are up to standard in the future.

THE quality of Ireland’s sea bathing water is the worst since monitoring began 18 years ago, and among the poorest in Europe, according to the EU’s annual bathing water report.

A EUROPEAN Commission report published yesterday reveals that nitrate levels in waters across the EU are falling.

EUROPE’S environment ministers agreed that Europe will have to cut its emissions by 80%-95% by 2050, a target scientists say is crucial to prevent a global catastrophe.

THE European Union’s first nature law, the Birds Directive, celebrates its 30th anniversary tomorrow.

Governments should provide free “energy audits” for all homeowners to help them save money and the environment, a report by MEPs said today.

AROUND 19% of timber imports into the European Union are thought to come from illegal sources, but new rules proposed by Brussels aim to reduce the risk.

THE Irish Government is being sued by the European Commission because it has failed to introduce laws to ensure the polluter and not the taxpayer pays to clean up damage to the environment.

THE EU will have to review its plan to have 10% of its transport fuel from biofuels by 2020 after warnings of huge social and environmental side effects.

A Nobel-winning UN panel of scientists today issued a stark vision of human hardship and vanishing species in a world growing increasingly hot.

Campaigners opposed to the routing of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara today vowed to launch another High Court action to halt the road works.

The European Commission is reportedly expected to begin legal action against the Government today over the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

IT was pleasing to hear Environment Minister John Gormley voice his concerns about chewing gum and cigarette butts on our streets and his determination to clean up the mess.

IRELAND is facing multi-million euro fines from the European Union from this autumn for a raft of environmental failures such as contaminated water.

It is feared today that the National Development Plan may be in breach of EU law.

Far-reaching rules governing the European chemicals industry entered into force today, but environmentalists and consumer groups complained the legislation does not go far enough to protect human health.

IRELAND is facing massive daily fines for allowing drinking water to be contaminated with human and animal waste, more than four years after being found guilty of breaching EC directives by the European Court of Justice.

MORE than a quarter of Irish citizens believe the way out of the energy and climate change crisis is to increase the amount of nuclear energy in Europe, according to the latest EU-wide survey.

Ireland was ordered to alter its national plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission confirmed today.

FARMERS can’t be faulted for Ireland’s poor progress towards Kyoto targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

WE could yet pay a high price for failing to protect nature sites.

WITH temperatures hitting a sizzling 30º Celsius during the recent heat wave, we were given a taste of what summers will be like in Ireland as the 21st century progresses.

The European Commission today proposed measures to boost its role to co-ordinate European Union relief operations in wake of natural or man-made disasters in Europe or abroad.

The European Union is comfortably on track to reach gas emission targets required under the Kyoto Protocol, the bloc said today.

European Union politicians are preparing for a showdown over a bill overhauling the EU’s chemicals policy, one of the most far-reaching and intensely lobbied pieces of legislation in recent years.

The European Union today launched a plan to make all of the EU’s marine waters “environmentally healthy” by 2021.

Britain today insisted the European Union must work with a wide range of countries to combat climate change, but said a flexible approach to win partners would not weaken the bloc’s determination to tackle the problem.

THE US has asked the EU and NATO for emergency assistance, asking for blankets, first aid kits, water trucks and food for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The US has asked the European Union for emergency assistance, requesting blankets, first aid kits, water trucks and food for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the European Commission said today.

THE European Commission is to press ahead with a range of environmental strategies including a €12 billion clear air programme that is estimated to save up to 30,000 premature deaths a year.

IRELAND is risking having to pay huge daily fines for failing to implement EU legislation on substances that deplete the ozone layer.

THE European Commission could move to fine Ireland next October for not implementing the Nitrates Directive, according to the Department of the Environment.

IRELAND’S air and drinking water is being seriously contaminated because the Government is refusing to implement EU environment rules.

Highlighting the need to curb the everyday use of chemicals, blood tests carried out on 14 ministers in European Union nations found a cocktail of several toxic chemicals, including DDT pesticide residues, according to a WWF survey released today.

AIR pollution in Dublin, especially from cancer-causing chemicals from increased traffic, is getting worse but the Government has failed to produce a plan to reduce the pollution.

IRELAND was among the first EU countries to have its emissions trading plan under the Kyoto climate control accepted by the European Commission yesterday.

The European Commission in July may ask for changes to industrial emissions plans rather than rejecting them outright to ensure more energy and manufacturing companies take part in pollution-permit trade starting on January 1, 2005.