Ireland taken to European court over failure to protect waterways from pollution
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Ireland must answer to Europe's highest court over our failure to protect lakes, rivers, and coasts from pollution, as well as failing to adequately tackle the problem of invasive species.
In two separate cases, the European Commission said it was referring Ireland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to correctly transpose the Water Framework Directive into national law, and failing to implement various provisions of the Invasive Alien Species Regulation.
An EU directive, unlike a regulation that becomes law from day one, allows Governments to implement EU legal acts over a certain timeframe.
The Commission said that the Water Framework Directive requires that all inland and coastal waters reach at least good status by 2027 at the latest. To achieve this, member states are to establish river basin management plans.
In October, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that only just over half of rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters are in satisfactory condition, adding that the further decline in water quality means Ireland is currently off course to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters to good or better status in the next five years.
Farming run-off in the south is the culprit for much of the "alarming" deterioration, according to the EPA, with a marked decline of 15.7% in the number of estuary water bodies in satisfactory condition, and a 9.5% decline in the number of coastal water bodies in satisfactory condition.
Ireland's River Basin Management Plans are unveiled in six-year cycles, and the latest will bring it up to the EU's 2027 deadline. EU member states were required to transpose the Water Framework Directive into national law by December 2003. Ireland initially adopted legislation, but the Commission found it to be insufficient, it said.
Warnings from the Commission date back 16 years, yet satisfactory action has not been taken, despite myriad pledges made by the current Government to tackle the biodiversity crisis.
Meanwhile, Ireland has, along with Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, and Portugal, been referred to the ECJ over invasive species management. According to Invasive Species Ireland (ISI), creatures not native to ecosystems are the second greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide, after habitat destruction.
Invasive species can negatively impact on native species, transforming habitats and threatening whole ecosystems, causing serious problems to the environment and the economy, ISI said.
Since the 17th century, invasive species have contributed to nearly 40% of all animal extinctions for which the cause is known, according to the ISI.
Annual environmental losses caused by introduced pests in the US, UK, Australia, South Africa, India, and Brazil have been calculated at over $100bn, it added.
The Commission said invasive species represent a major threat to native plants and animals in Europe, causing an estimated damage of €12bn per year to the European economy.
Ireland and the other five countries have failed to establish, implement, and communicate to the Commission action plans to address the introduction and spread of these invasive alien species, it said. There are at least 12 000 alien species in the European environment, of which 10–15 % are invasive.