The Green Party has called for the reform of the Environmental Protection Agency, criticising the licensing appeals procedure, the organisational structure and the EPA's prosecution procedures.
The party presented a petition to Minister for The Environment Dick Roche, supporting its call. To date about 5,000 signatures have been collected, but the party is hoping to further increase that figure.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said it wants to create an EPA that is "unequivocal in its remit to protect the environment" and claimed there were a number of shortcomings in the current organisation.
"The track record of senior EPA directors, the lack of a satisfactory structure to appeal EPA decisions and the derisory fines handed down for breaking environmental law all ring alarm bells for environmentalists," he said.
Among the criticisms of the organisation are the lack of an independent forum to appeal pollution control licensing decisions and the current organisational structure, which the Green Party claims allows very little influence from environmental groups. It is asking for greater powers to be given to the EPA's advisory board, with a larger representation of environmental groups on the committee.
"This organisational restructuring would go some way to addressing the perception that exists in many local communities that the EPA is too close to the business lobby," said Green Party Finance spokesperson Dan Boyle.
"This perception is reinforced when one looks at the EPA's mission statement which stresses that the agency should always be aware of the economic affects of its actions."
The EPA's powers to prosecute companies that cause serious environmental damage also came under fire, with the party highlighting the low level of fines imposed by courts in successful prosecutions.
