Ireland fined €2m by EU over its failure to regulate septic tanks

Ireland was fined €2m and a daily sum of €12,000 for failing to properly regulate the country’s 500,000 septic tanks, and another €1.5m for exempting far too many sensitive projects from environmental impact assessments.

It is estimated that these failures cost the economy up to €500m a year in health costs and costs to the environment. The European Court of Justice cut the fines from €9.3m.

There are no EU recognised standards or inspection procedures for these domestic waste treatment systems, which have been blamed for contaminating water and causing serious illness in people who drink it as well as polluting rivers and lakes.