Government tardiness with EU laws will see taxpayer pay

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.

It is also facing court action for not following rules when awarding valuable state contracts for building the Dundalk by-pass and for animal identification tags.

The polluter pays directive should have been brought into Irish law over a year ago, but despite several warnings, Ireland has failed to meet the deadline.