EPA commences online publication of enforcement data. Findings show overall good compliance at EPA licensed industrial and waste sites

Date released: February 04, 2020

• There were 833 EPA licenced industrial and waste facilities at the end of 2019, of which 11 were identified as National Priority Sites (NPS) during 2019. 
  •  Four of the National Priority Sites were from the Food and Drink sector
  • The continued poor compliance status and presence of Arrow Group as a National Priority Site is of serious concern to the EPA.  
  • There are 6 sites on the EPA National Priority Sites list currently.
  • Over half of the EPA licensed industrial and waste sites had no non-compliance recorded against them in 2019 - this was similar to 2018 (56%). 
  • There has been a marked reduction (24%) in the number of complaints from the public about licensed industrial and waste sites from the public in 2019 (608). when compared with 2018 (799) and 2017 (1030).
    

The EPA has today commenced the publication of key data on industrial and waste licence enforcement on the EPA website.  The data gives details of compliance levels and enforcement activities across the 833 licensed facilities in 2019. The EPA will publish the data on its website on a quarterly basis, providing enforcement information in a timely manner for the public.

Commenting on the publication, Dr. Tom Ryan, Director, EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said:

“The EPA carried out 1472 inspections to licensed industrial and waste sites in 2019, with 93 per cent of these being unannounced. Overall, EPA licensed industrial and waste sites exhibited a good level of compliance in 2019, which is reflected in a welcome reduction in the number of complaints from members of the public.  The EPA will continue to target its resources to drive environmental compliance and much needed investment in environmental improvements”.

The EPA has also published the latest National Priority Sites List for Enforcement for July-January 2019.  Six sites (below) are on the latest list for failing to meet the necessary environmental standards.  These companies face further enforcement action.

The EPA remains concerned that Arrow Group has been a National Priority Site for all four quarters of 2019. Arrow Group has committed to completing improvement works in early 2020 to address the issues identified and the EPA is closely monitoring progress to ensure the site returns to compliance.

*Arrow Group Limited includes the activities at this licensed site of Dawn Farm Foods Ltd, TCFG Naas Ltd (also known as The Culinary Food Group), QK Coldstores Ltd, Dawn Farms Distribution Ltd and Maudlins Waste Management Ltd.

Further information: Emily Williamson, EPA Media Relations Office 053-9170770 (24 hours) or media@epa.ie

Notes to Editor

The National Priority Sites for Enforcement system was launched by the EPA in July 2017 to drive further environmental compliance at industrial and waste facilities. It is based on the previous six months enforcement history at all licensed sites. Find out more on the EPA website at the link above.

Licensed facilities are identified as National Priority Sites for enforcement using a system developed by the EPA.  Points are allocated to each site based on compliance data such as complaints, incidents and non-compliances over the previous six months.  Sites which exceed a certain threshold become a National Priority Site and are targeted by the EPA for further enforcement action. The EPA updates the National Priority Sites list on a quarterly basis.

Further details of the National Priority Sites scoring system and the list of sites can be found here National Priority Sites :: Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.

Enforcement information on all sites can be found under the Licence Search pages on the EPA website.

Complaints about licensed sites can be made on-line at www.epa.ie or by contacting the EPA at 053-9160600.

One site has come off the National Priority Site List which was published at the end of Q3 2019, following improvements in compliance or reduced risk. This site is:

The table below provides a list of National Priority Sites (NPS) for 2019:

*Arrow Group Limited includes the activities at this licensed site of Dawn Farm Foods Ltd, TCFG Naas Ltd (also known as The Culinary Food Group), QK Coldstores Ltd, Dawn Farms Distribution Ltd and Maudlins Waste Management Ltd.