Clare County Council has been ranked among the worst performing local authorities in the country when it comes to enforcing environmental protection legislation.
A new report compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency shows this county’s local authority met the required standard in respect of just 11 of the 19 National Enforcement Priorities last year.
The EPA’s Local Authority Environmental Enforcement Performance Report 2024 assesses the efforts made by county and city councils to protect the environment by identifying polluters and non-compliant operators,
and holding them to account.
Clare County Council was the fourth-lowest performing local authority last year, being deemed ‘strong’ or ‘excellent’ in just 11 of the 19 areas in which it was assessed.
The environmental watchdog found Clare’s performance to be ‘moderate’ in respect of eight National Enforcement Priorities.
Four of these fell under the category of ‘Water Enforcement’ while three were in relation to ‘Air and Noise Enforcement’ and one was concerning ‘Waste Enforcement’.
Of the areas where Clare County Council’s performance was found to be ‘strong’, four were relating to ‘Waste Enforcement’, two involved ‘Air and Noise Enforcement’, while ‘Water Enforcement’ and ‘Government Processes’ accounted for one area each.
The local authority’s performance was described as ‘excellent’ meanwhile when it came to planning for the National Enforcement Priorities in terms of environmental resource planning, environmental outcomes, and review and reporting.
Just three local authorities performed worse than Clare County Council in the report – namely Sligo, Galway City and Leitrim.
