EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 5: Land and Soil Governance Covering Soil Management In Ireland, there is little specific legislation to protect soils, apart from legislation on key habitats/ ecosystems associated with peat soils and site-specific regulation linked to industrial and waste facilities. The EU Seventh Environment Action Programme commits Member States to increase efforts to reduce soil erosion, increase soil organic matter and remediate contaminated sites by 2020. The Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/EC) and related national regulations set out a framework for environmental liability assessment based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle. This includes preventing environmental damage to soils. The European Commission is engaged in a review programme to evaluate whether the Environmental Liability Directive is fit for purpose. In Ireland, apart from the National Planning Framework targets described above, there are few specific legislative or policy mechanisms to protect soils, apart from legislation on key habitats/ecosystems associated with peat soils and site-specific regulation linked to industrial and waste facilities. There is also no specific contaminated land policy in Ireland and, as a result, there is no legislation dealing specifically with the remediation of contaminated soils. 103