EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016 - An Assessment

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Ireland’s Environment – An Assessment 2016 216
Enforcement of Environmental Legislation
Continued enforcement and engagement to change
attitudes and behaviours is required.
Environmental enforcement bodies should continue to
target key environmental risks and non-compliance with
permits and licences in order to drive environmental
improvements. Appropriate odour control and the
requirement to have robust and secure financial provisions
in place to manage environmental liabilities are two key
issues for waste and industrial sites.
Odour control in parts of the waste management and
food and drinks sectors needs to improve. These sectors
accounted for approximately 98% of all odour complaints
made to the EPA during 2015, with 10 sites accounting
for 75% of all complaints. Inspections conducted by the
EPA have found poor management and storage of waste
at some waste facilities, which is leading to unacceptable
odour nuisance and an increased risk of fires. The EPA
has committed to use enforcement powers to bring the
operators of these facilities into line and ensure that they
improve their environmental performance.
Litter and fly-tipping also account for the majority of
environmental complaints made to local authorities. These
figures illustrate that litter and fly-tipping are issues that
still need attention. Continued enforcement, as well as
initiatives to promote positive attitudes and behaviours, is
required. Citizen involvement in reporting environmental
pollution or related environmental issues provides on-the-
ground information for public bodies to act on. Various
phone lines, apps or web-based systems are now operated
by public bodies to make reporting easier and instant
(Figure 13.3).
The prevention and remediation of environmental damage
at contaminated sites, and from the closure of authorised
activities, is a strategic priority for the EPA. To this end,
operators under various authorisation regimes (waste,
industrial emissions directive and integrated pollution
control licensing, and dumping at sea permitting) are
required to make adequate financial provision for the
potential environmental liabilities associated with:
n closure and restoration/aftercare and
n response to, and completion of remedial measures in
the event of an incident.
The State has stepped in to manage remediation at major
waste infrastructural sites where companies ceased to
trade resulting in significant cost to the public purse.
The EPA has published two recent sets of guidance on
measuring and providing for environmental liabilities, with
the general aim that financial provisions must be Secure,
Sufficient and Available.
4
Figure 13.3. The EPA has developed a phone app,
called See it? Say It!4 to help people to report
environmental pollution (Source: EPA).
Emissions from Industrial Facilities
Emissions of pollutants from large industrial activities
are not all reducing.
The regulation of emissions from large industrial facilities
of pollutants to air and water is showing a mixed trend
of both increases and decreases for various parameters,
with large urban waste water treatment plants the major
industrial source of releases of the nutrients nitrogen
and phosphorous to waters.5 The mineral and waste
water management sectors reported the largest quantity
of pollutant releases in 2014. For air we are seeing the
positive impact of higher penetration of renewables in
power generation in addition to the improvements in
abatement measures over the last number of years.
Monitoring National Plans and Programmes
Strategies and sector plans should be written with
a commitment to report publically and regularly
on environmental performance against relevant
environmental indicators.
Many economic sectors have strategies in place for growth
or change. Implementation of these strategies can come
with potential environmental risks and challenges. It
is now recognised that monitoring the environmental
performance of sector strategies is necessary to ensure
that growth strategies are sustainable in the long term.
Strategies should be written with a commitment to report
publicly and regularly on their environmental performance
against relevant environmental indicators. This will make
the strategies more robust and provide for increased
environmental accountability and transparency during
implementation. A strategy review mechanism should
kick in if the performance monitoring demonstrates an
unfavourable situation for Ireland’s sustainability.
5 PRTR Registers – National:
European: