11 councils are failing to meet EPA targets

More than a third of local authorities failed to meet target performance standards for the enforcement of environmental legislation in 2015.

The Environmental Protection Agency has assessed 11 of the 31 city and county councils as having below-average inspections levels.

Only three councils — Cork City, Louth and Meath — were rated by the EPA as having achieved excellent overall levels of enforcement.

The report said the environmental enforcement performance by local authorities was generally on target.

It measured councils’ performance in five main areas — enforcement systems, waste, water, and air enforcement as well as inspections on producer responsibility initiatives (PRI) for the disposal of items like electrical equipment, tyres, food waste and batteries.

Although the report did not identify the 11 local authorities that failed to meet targets, several county councils including Longford, Mayo, Sligo, Fingal and Offaly obtained below-average ratings in four of the five main categories. Cavan was rated below target in all areas.

Many councils showed improvements in relation to waste, water and enforcement systems, but scored lower than in 2014 in the PRI and air enforcement areas.

The EPA said the results showed improvements were necessary to enhance enforcement planning and meet required standards.

“All enforcement activity must be conducted with a purpose and be targeted at solving environmental problems and environmental outcomes rather than just large numbers of inspections,” the EPA said.

In particular, the EPA highlighted a pressing need for better performance by councils on farm inspections and in reporting any non-compliances to the Department of Agriculture to protect and improve water quality as well as maintain current nitrate derogations levels agreed with the EU.

The EPA categorised the reporting of non-compliances found during farm inspections as “unacceptable”, as only 23% of failures were reported to the department in 2015. The target level is 100%.

It also called for better enforcement of regulations governing the use of “smoky coal”, with councils urged to impose fines where justified.

Over one third of councils failed to complete their planned level of inspection of licences for the discharge of effluent. The report expressed concern there may be a number of unlicensed facilities operating in some areas.

Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of over 100 pieces of legislation relating to the protection of both public health and the environment.

Council staff carried out 163,000 inspections — the highest number in recent years. They dealt with 59,000 environmental complaints, a fall of 5,000 on 2014 figures.

Over 8,900 enforcement actions were taken, an increase of almost 2,000 over the previous year, largely due to increased enforcement in relation to waste and litter. Over 525 prosecutions were initiated, the vast majority in relation to waste.