The Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) mission statement states that the EPA’s aim is to “To protect and improve the natural environment for present and future generations, taking into account the environmental, social and economic principles of sustainable development.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is at the front line of environmental protection and policing, regulating and “policing” activities that might otherwise cause pollution, they also gather data from various sources relating to environmental trends, and endeavour to ensure that whatever actions are required to protect our environment are implemented. The quality of our environment is intrinsic to our quality of life and supports our health and well-being, our recreational activities, and the attractiveness of our country as a place in which to live, visit or work in.

The EPA are responsible for licensing and controlling large scale waste and industrial concerns, to ensure that they do not endanger human health, or cause harm to our environment, so for example the EPA are responsible for licensing landfill sites, industrial manufacturing companies, agriculture and farming, and large petrol storage facilities. The EPA regulates and inspects activities which might otherwise cause pollution, they work throughout the country.

Some examples of what the EPA do to protect your environment:

• They licence waste disposal facilities (including those run by the Council).


• They licence large and medium manufacturing plants, ESB stations etc.


• They carry out surveillance Audits annually to ensure that registered firms are complying with the conditions of their licence.


• They oversee Local Authorities environmental protection responsibilities, mainly in respect to the quality of our Air, Water, Noise, along with issues such as planning, waste disposal, waste water etc.


• They work in conjunction with the Local Authorities and the Gardaí to detect and eliminate illegal waste activities, and they can prosecute those who disobey the law in that regard.

However we all have a responsibility to protect our environment and the quality of life we pass on to our future generations, it must not be left to bodies like the EPA or the Local Authorities solely to address problems encountered with the environment.

The EPA has an unenviable task to regulate and monitor our environment, and they deserve our fullest support.

Take some time to look up the Environmental Protection Agencies Web-page for down-loadable reports and further reading www.epa.ie