The European Commission is taking a series of legal actions against the Government, accusing it of breaching EU health and environment rules.
One legal action is being taken against the Government for failing to carry out a new assessment of the environmental impact of a wind farm at Derrybrien, Co Galway, before work resumes on the project. Work on the wind farm was suspended in 2003 following a landslide that killed an estimated 50,000 fish as well as damaging property.
The commission announced yesterday it is also taking the Government to the European Court of Justice over its failure to introduce rules to combat foul odours from sewage treatment plants.
In a third case, the commission has warned the Government that it could face financial penalties for ignoring a court judgment last October that ordered the State to report on how it was dealing with substances that deplete the earth's ozone layer.
"Ireland is the only member state not to have provided this information, for which the deadline was December 31st, 2001. Ireland has mentioned the preparation of a report by consultants, but the information has still not been supplied."
The Derrybrien case centres on EU rules that oblige governments to undertake environmental impact assessments before certain projects are undertaken, to minimise damage to the environment. The commission complains that Irish legislation and practice allows projects such as quarrying and pig-rearing to continue or intensify before an environmental impact assessment starts.
The landslide at Derrybrien, where half a million cubic metres of peat was displaced, happened after an environmental impact assessment failed to warn of the danger of soil instability.
The commission's action concerning sewage treatment plants was prompted by complaints from the public about smells from a number of such facilities, including one in Dublin. The commission complains that, although the Government promised legislation to deal with the problem, none has materialised.
This case also addresses the lack of satisfactory rules and controls to ensure that the siting, design and maintenance of domestic waste-water treatment systems do not harm the environment.
"Many Irish water supplies are contaminated by bacteria, the principal causes of which are land-spreading of animal wastes and leaking domestic waste-water treatment systems. Ireland is attempting to deal with the public health risk by devoting community and Irish taxpayer resources to investments in chlorination and other forms of disinfection of contaminated water sources. However, more needs to be done to protect these sources from becoming polluted in the first place," the commission said.
Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle yesterday accused the Government of ignoring the welfare of the environment and the health of citizens as well as its EU obligations. "This Government continues to embarrass Ireland on the European stage for a litany of transgressions of EU environmental law, and mortgage our children's environmental heritage."