Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

66 Chapter 3: Environmental Noise The development of these noise action plans provides an opportunity for sections within a local authority to work collaboratively with other departments, particularly where synergies exist with issues such as road maintenance and traffic management, to get the most out of existing projects, in addition to considering noise measures in their own right. Noise action plan guidance New EPA draft noise action planning guidance recommends that the action planning authorities (i.e. local authorities) consider several aspects in selecting priority important areas (PIAs), including a history of noise complaints. These locations are identified by a local authority as areas to be assessed during the implementation of their noise action plan. The guidance also recommends that the development of noise action plans is undertaken through a collaborative local authority working group that includes team members from various departments who have knowledge of noise and complaints. Organisations with responsibilities for roads, including TII, should be involved in the PIA selection process. 5 Local authority performance is evaluated by the EPA against the NEPs, which are focused on achieving environmental outcomes. The NEPs fall under four themes: governance processes, waste, water, and air and noise. There are 20 NEPs in total with five in each of the four thematic areas. Noise action plan progress reports Local authorities are required to report annual progress on their noise action plans to the EPA under the European Communities (Environmental Noise) Regulations (S.I. No. 549/2018). END compliance is assessed as a national enforcement priority (NEP) under the ‘air and noise’ thematic area in the EPA Local Authority Environmental Enforcement Performance Framework. 5 The EPA’s evaluation of performance in relation to noise is based on information contained in each local authority’s noise action plan progress report. Each local authority is required to set out the steps that have been taken to prevent, protect against and reduce excessive environmental noise, as identified in their noise action plan. The plans are assessed by the EPA regarding the effectiveness of plan implementation and associated actions (Figure 3.5). In 2022, only 19% of local authorities achieved the required standard in this NEP, compared with 33% in 2021 (EPA, 2023a). Noise was the lowest performing enforcement priority across the entire performance framework. Figure 3.5  (a) Summary assessment of the 2022 noise action plan progress reports covering round 3 and (b) Summary assessment of END compliance in 2022 showing the number of local authorities in each rating band for noise NEP performance. Rating Assessment by the EPA Excellent Strong Moderate Limited (a) (b) Number of local authorities in each rating band for noise NEP performance (total: 31). ˜ Excellent ˜ Strong ˜ Moderate ˜ Limited Rating Assessment by the EPA 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 1 5 14 11 Source: EPA, 2024