A litany of failures by local authorities and State agencies in preventing illegal dumping, protecting the quality of inland waterways and enforcing the law, has led the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, to propose the establishment of a new Office for Environmental Enforcement (OEE).
The Office will operate as a dedicated unit within the Environment Protection Agency and is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
There has been an unfortunate tendency in this State for governments to make laws and regulations in response to specific social and environmental problems and then fail to enforce them. The Department of the Environment has had a poor record in that regard. From dog muzzling and pavement fouling, to littering, illegal dumping, unauthorised landfills and water pollution, the Department passed important laws down the years and then relied on under-resourced local authorities to police them. The fact that local authorities were themselves responsible for a considerable amount of water pollution and illegal dumping made a complete farce of the situation.
Now it appears that Mr Cullen, under severe pressure from the European Commission, is preparing to create an environmental watchdog with statutory teeth. The OEE will be funded from the existing tax on plastic bags and landfill levies and will investigate and prosecute major cases of pollution. It will also monitor the performance of local authorities in enforcing environmental legislation. It will be able to recommend penalties where councils fail to fulfil their responsibilities.
A recent incident emphasised the enforcement difficulties. Concerned about deteriorating water quality in one particular catchment area, the North Western Regional Fisheries Board (NWRFB) asked the Department of Agriculture to identify those farmers who were being paid EU grants to operate in an environmentally sensitive manner. The IFA held a public protest. It insisted there should be no farm inspections to ensure the required pollution-control practices were in place. And it demanded the Department of Agriculture should withhold the requested information. So far, it has had its way.
Given such difficulties in monitoring water quality, Mr Cullen's initiative is to be welcomed. To be truly effective, however, full Cabinet support for the policing work of the OEE will be required. If we are to eliminate illegal dumps and enjoy an unpolluted countryside, severe penalties must be imposed on those individuals, companies and agencies who ignore the law and poison the environment.