EPA warns Ireland missing environmental targets

The Environmental Protection Agency has warned the Government is in danger of missing a number of deadlines for environmental protection, including cutting emissions and cleaning up of Irish rivers.

According to the Environment in Focus report published by the EPA today, Ireland is on course to fail in its commitments to a number of agreements, including the Kyoto Protocol and several European Union directives.

Ireland has committed itself under the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions of greenhouse gases to 13 per cent above 1990 levels by 2016. The latest figures, from 2004, show these emissions are 23.1 per cent above 1990 levels.

The Government has also signed up to a European Union national emissions ceiling Directive, which requires Ireland to cut the production of a number of categories of toxic gases by 2010. The EPA said the limiting of one of these gases - nitrogen oxides - will pose greatest challenge. Nitrogen oxides are largely caused by traffic.

Ireland is currently falling way short of the goals of the the Water Framework Directive, which dictates that all water bodies in Ireland should achieve clean status by 2015 . Almost 30 per cent of waterways are below required standards at the moment.

The EPA said more action is needed to comply with an EU Landfill Directive calling for all landfilling to be cut to 35 per cent of the quantity of biodegradable waste, namely paper, cardboard, food wastes and garden wastes,  that were generated in 1995.

The director general of the EPA Dr Mary Kelly urged the Government to use the report to guide its programme of sustainable development.

"Significant international deadlines are now looming and will require a strong commitment to further environmental infrastructure and environmentally responsible measures right from the start of the National Development Plan," Dr Kelly said. "An immediate push is now needed if Ireland is to meet its environmental commitments.

"Many different sectors contribute, directly or indirectly, to the pressures on the environment — and this means that many of the targets can only be reached if the environment is considered equally with the economic and social agendas at policy level."

Dr Kelly said the transport sector was one of the main areas of concern. She said that while progress has been made in recent year in manufacturing cars with reduced emissions per car, the report shows that there has been no overall benefit to the environment.

"There are now many more vehicles on Irish roads and the trend has been to buy cars with larger engine sizes," she said. "Trends in both vehicle numbers and freight transport demand are clearly set out in the report to assist policy makers to help prompt changes in travel patterns and consumer choice."

Speaking this morning, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche claimed the report was encouraging because it showed Government policies were resulting in "steady progress" in a wide range of environmental areas.

"We live in a very fast-moving economy with record levels of economic and population growth, and we need to ensure that the benefits of this growth are not at the expense of the environment," he said.

"Economic growth doesn't have to mean environmental degradation. It's entirely possible to promote growth and employment without adversely affecting social progress or environmental protection - getting the balance right is what it is all about."