Latest News

Posted 27/09/2012

Posted 07/09/2012

In the current economic climate facility closures are unfortunately a fact of life. For IPPC and Waste licensed sites the EPA has further developed its policy regarding the process of surrendering licenses.

New Waste Policy Launched

Posted 04/09/2012

In March 2012 Environet reported on the draft waste management policy from the Department of the Environment. It included plans to change how household waste is regulated.

Rio+20 Summit – Any Outcomes?

Posted 03/09/2012

Latest Bathing Water Quality Data

Posted 02/07/2012

While we wait for summer to arrive, readers may be interested in an on-line resource for bathing water quality in Ireland. http://www.bathingwater.ie/epa/home.htm contains data on bathing water quality for 136 designated bathing waters around the country. Historical and current data sets are available and while most are of acceptable quality its also the case that some locations are cleaner than others!

New Guidance on Noise Emissions

Posted 15/06/2012

In April 2012 the EPA issued a comprehensive new Guidance Note for Noise. The document is intended to assist licensed activities with the assessment of their potential and actual noise impact on the local environment.

EPA Issues Guidance on Emissions to Groundwater

Posted 08/06/2012

The EPA has issued guidance on the licensing of emissions to groundwater. This comes on foot of the requirements of the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Groundwater) Regulations, 2010 (S.I. No. 9 of 2010) (Groundwater Regulations). Prior to these Regulations the applicable instrument was usually a Section 4 licence under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts 1977-1990. However the approach to the licensing of discharges to ground has been extremely inconsistent.

EU Emissions Trading System Data

Posted 15/05/2012

More than 12,000 installations are covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). 105 of these installations are located in Ireland.

Ireland faces fines for breaches of EU Legislation

Posted 26/04/2012

Ireland has been taken to the ECJ (European Court of Justice) by the Commission on many occasions for breaches of EU environmental legislation. To date cases have been settled prior to the imposition of any fines. However Ireland is getting closer to the imposition of fines as a number of cases are now at Stage Two of enforcement proceedings.

EEA Launches Climate Change Adaptation Website

Posted 16/04/2012

Climate Change Adaptation is now receiving a lot of attention at EU level. Its one thing to prove and that climate change is occurring but its another to actually prepare for it.

A new website from the European Environment Agency aims to collate the many sources of information and provide the knowledge base to inform people about climate change and specifically climate change adaptation http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/.