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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Topic Box 15.1 Priority Actions for Ireland on Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice, as Identified by the European Commission (EC, 2019b) n Identify and document all spatial datasets required for the implementation of environmental law, and make the data and documentation at least accessible ‘as is’ to other public authorities and the public through the digital services foreseen in the INSPIRE Directive. n Better inform the public about their rights to access justice, notably in relation to air pollution and nature. n Ensure that individuals and environmental non-governmental organisations can bring environmental challenges without facing prohibitive costs, including in nature and air quality cases. 3. Assessment of Ireland’s Performance Against Environmental Legislation, Plans and Programmes Environmental Enforcement Performance of Local Authorities The EPA has designed a Performance Framework to help local authorities to continue to improve their work in environmental enforcement. The EPA’s latest report on local authority environmental enforcement performance found that local authorities increased their environmental enforcement activities in 2018 (EPA, 2020a). They also handled and investigated an increased number of environmental complaints (over 78,000) in 2018, mainly relating to waste and litter issues (Figure 15.3). The EPA also receives complaints in relation to how local authorities carry out their environmental duties – over 1100 of these complaints were received by the EPA in 2018. Figure 15.3  Breakdown of the environmental complaints received by local authorities directly in 2018 Waste 52% Litter 41% Water 3% Noise 2% Air 2% Several areas where local authorities could improve environmental enforcement were identified in the EPA report, as follows: n ensure waste is segregated at source by businesses and householders to improve recovery n improve sharing of information on waste enforcement to ensure that illegal waste activities can be detected and prevented n increase farm inspection numbers to previous levels at a minimum, to improve water quality (e.g. there were about 650 fewer farm inspections undertaken in 2018 than in 2017) n coordinate action and increase enforcement of the Solid Fuel Regulations 1 to improve air quality. The challenge posed by increasing shared service delivery and the need to better coordinate and cooperate to deliver national environmental enforcement priorities were also identified in the report. 1 S.I. No. 326/2012 – Air Pollution Act (Marketing, Sale, Distribution and Burning of Specified Fuels) Regulations 2012d. 392