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Ireland’s Environment 2012
140
a more sustainable society and
economy. The most recent report of
the NWPP shows that in many cases
the resource efficiency projects are
resulting in significant commercial
gains and savings for participants
as well as positive outcomes for the
environment.
Recent years have demonstrated
some welcome developments in
terms of waste and recycling and
Ireland has made significant progress
in meeting most of the EU waste
recycling/recovery targets. However,
Ireland is still over-reliant on landfill
for the disposal of municipal waste
and is also too dependent on
external markets for disposal of
hazardous wastes. In the coming
years it will be important that waste
prevention and resource efficiency
are embedded across all sectors of
the Irish economy, so as to assist
in the decoupling of waste from
future economic growth. To support
this, there is a need to develop a
national Resource Efficiency Strategy
that integrates all the existing
programmes and maps future
direction for a resource-efficient
Ireland.
Integration and
Enforcement
Integration
Within the concept of sustainable
development, it is widely accepted
that economic growth, social
cohesion and environmental
protection go hand in hand. The
underlying principle is that natural
resources and environmental
conditions fundamental to the
economic and social well-being of
future generations are not exhausted
or degraded. The development of key
economic sectors in Ireland, such as
the agri-food and tourism industries,
is strongly bound to the quality of
our environment with marketing
efforts centred on our clean, green
image. However, It is important that
this brand is reinforced by a high
level of environmental quality in
Ireland – to demonstrate ‘substance’
behind the image. It is vital therefore,
that environmental priorities are fully
considered in policy and decision-
making across all economic sectors
not just at government level but also
within businesses and communities
across Ireland.
Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA) offers a formal systematic
process for integrating environmental
considerations into the preparation
of plans and programmes across
eleven broad-ranging sectors. Since
the SEA Directive was implemented
in Ireland in 2004, over 300 SEAs
have commenced. The majority of
these are in the land use sector, with
SEA applied to Regional Planning
Guidelines, county and town
development plans and local area
plans. The water and energy sectors
comprise the bulk of the other SEAs
undertaken. However, it is also clear
that a number of other sectors, most
notably the tourism and forestry
sectors, have yet to meaningfully
engage in the SEA process – a
situation that was also reported in
the previous State of Environment
report in 2008.
The EPA, in cooperation with the
other statutory environmental
authorities for SEA – DECLG, DCENR,
DAFM and DAHG (NPWS), has
completed a comprehensive review
of how effective the SEA process in
Ireland has been to date. It is clear
from this review that SEA is fulfilling
its role and is providing a vital tool
for environmental protection in
Ireland. The SEA process is ensuring
that environmental considerations
are taken into account in policy
development and implementation,
and is raising the profile of
environmental issues in decision
making at plan level among those
sectors applying SEA. However,
a number of challenges have
been identified which are acting
as barriers to ensuring effective
implementation across the board.
These challenges are similar to those
experienced in other EU Member
States. In particular, as most plans
have not been implemented for
long enough and SEA related
monitoring is not yet taking place,
it remains unclear whether SEA is
leading to widespread environmental
improvements and preventing
adverse environmental effects on
the ground. The SEA statutory
environmental authorities are
currently formulating an agreed
action plan for implementing the
recommendations of the review
and improving SEA effectiveness in
Ireland.
Enforcement
Ireland is party to a large number of
international agreements and treaties
related to the environment. In a
comprehensive review of Ireland’s
performance in this area, Cashman
(2012) notes that Ireland has not
had a good history of compliance
with EU environmental laws. Starting
from a first European Court of Justice
(ECJ) judgement against Ireland
in 1999, there have subsequently
been numerous actions taken by
the European Commission against
the State. Some of these actions
have resulted in further ECJ rulings
against Ireland and others have
been resolved prior to an ECJ court
judgement.
In some respects, the full
implementation of EU environmental
legislation has clearly proved onerous
for Ireland. However, as the EC has
found, the cost of inaction can be
greater than the cost associated
with implementing legislation.
For example, the evidence from
the analysis of expenditures of
industrial firms in Ireland is that the
implementation of the EPA’s IPPC
licensing regime is cost-effective, in
that direct compliance costs borne
by operators are considerably lower