Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published its Annual Report and Accounts 2024, providing an overview of the EPA’s role as Ireland’s environmental regulator.
In 2024, the EPA published its State of the Environment Report, the eighth of its kind, which brought together the work of the EPA and many others with roles in environmental monitoring and protection. The report presents the most recent integrated information on the quality of Ireland’s environment. It outlines the current state of Ireland’s environment at a strategic level, and it also provides an update on the environmental challenges that the country faces nationally, and globally.
In addition to its State of the Environment Report, the EPA published over 50 major reports on water, climate, air, circular economy, environmental compliance and more. During 2024, the EPA undertook over 2,000 inspections across all sectors, and increased monitoring activity of air quality, water quality, and radiation sources.
Commenting on the Annual Report, EPA Director General Laura Burke, said:
“In the three decades of the EPA’s existence, the Irish environment has changed, but the EPA’s core role – to protect, improve and restore Ireland’s environment has stayed the same. We regulate activities that have the potential for significant pollution. We produce timely, reliable, trustworthy data on Ireland’s environment. We work with others to protect and preserve our environment.
“A primary function of the EPA is environmental and radiological regulation, including assessment, authorisation and enforcement of activities. In 2024, we prioritised improving the efficiency of our licensing process and the issuing of licences in the energy sector including Temporary Emergency Generation plants, power plants and power generation at data centres. In total 160 authorisations were issued across all environmental licence and permit regimes.
“Continuous improvements aim to strengthen the EPA’s capacity to process applications, increase our throughput and provide greater clarity to applicants and stakeholders on decision timelines. This, in conjunction with increased resources allocated to the EPA, has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of licence applications awaiting assessment. In 2025, the EPA will continue accelerating licensing decisions by improving processes and building capacity as an agile, effective, and responsive regulator.”
Some highlights from EPA activities and notable developments in 2024:
- The publication of the eighth State of the Environment report which:
- sets out the need for a national policy position on the environment;
- reinforced previous EPA calls for the implementation of existing environmental plans and programmes; and
- highlighted the integral link between people’s health and the environment.
- Focused EPA enforcement efforts on waste management, energy supply security and water quality impacts. The EPA also tackled the illegal industrial extraction of peat, investigating 38 peatlands across seven counties and initiating various legal actions.
- Publication of Ireland’s first Climate Change Assessment (ICCA) report and the commencement of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) process.
- The awarding of €18.5 million for new research projects, plus 30 research reports published.
The EPA Annual Report and Accounts 2024 is available on the EPA website.
