EPA report - Authorities off the pace

Sometimes it’s not hard to think that official Ireland lags behind what society expects of it.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report that records that local authorities received over 50,000 complaints on environmental infringements last year feeds into that feeling.

However, even the most active authority imposed less than 1,500 fines making some sort of mockery of the civic-minded citizens who stuck their heads over the parapet in a society that still regards standing up against vandalism in this way as snitching.

That there were so many complaints suggests that a lot remains to be done in educating people about what is acceptable or not. Unfortunately, experience suggests that stiff sanctions are one of the most effective ways to achieve this. The figures also sound a tacit warning for cabinet ministers who might try to push through environmentally unsound projects.