Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

467 Chapter 16: Environmental Policy Implementation and Performance Key chapter messages 1. Serious deficits remain in Ireland’s implementation of environmental legislation and related plans and programmes. To achieve full compliance with existing environmental standards, we need to scale up and speed up the implementation of measures and critical infrastructure required to safeguard air and water quality and protect nature and human health. 2. Environmental policy responses to date have been insufficient to halt or reverse environmental decline. A national policy position on protecting Ireland’s environment is urgently required to provide a shared whole- of-government vision for protecting our environment to guide decision-making, support policy coherence and improve the coordination of environmental protection efforts nationally. 3. Looking ahead to 2050, more ambitious and transformative policy responses are needed that set out a roadmap for achieving the transitions required across our food, energy, mobility, and production and consumption systems. These policies need to be supported by clear governance structures and the necessary investment plans to implement them.