The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published its report on the environmental enforcement performance of Ireland’s local authorities in 2025.
The report assesses performance against the National Enforcement Priorities (NEPs), which target the most significant environmental risks and compliance challenges across the country. The report shows strong overall performance by local authorities in delivering their environmental enforcement responsibilities, while identifying some areas requiring improvement.
During 2025, Ireland’s 31 local authorities employed 668 environmental staff, responsible for enforcing 10,700 licences, permits and certificates. They carried out more than 252,000 inspections, responded to 85,500 environmental complaints, took 23,550 enforcement actions, and initiated 386 prosecutions.
The EPA found that 83% of the National Enforcement Priority work carried out by local authorities met the required standard of strong or excellent, an increase of 4% compared to 2024. Three local authorities – Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Galway City Council and South Dublin County Council – met the required standard across all National Enforcement Priorities. In addition, all local authorities achieved the required standard for illegal waste enforcement.
However, the report also identifies performance gaps, with 17% of National Enforcement Priority assessments falling below the required standard. Two local authorities – Leitrim County Council and Sligo County Council – failed to meet the required standard across multiple priority areas.
Commenting on the report, Dr. Tom Ryan, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, said:
“Local authorities play a vital role in protecting Ireland’s environment and communities and, in 2025, most local authorities demonstrated strong overall environmental enforcement performance. Improvements were evident across several key enforcement priorities with increased inspection and enforcement activity. However, some local authorities such as Leitrim and Sligo County Councils need to do much better.
“Our report also identifies areas where stronger and more consistent enforcement is needed, particularly in relation to waste segregation, discharges to water and transport noise. Local authorities must address these shortcomings by prioritising and allocating appropriate resources to maintain the positive momentum and to ensure consistent and effective environmental protection across the country.”
The EPA says it will continue to monitor local authority performance and work with local authorities to improve environmental outcomes and ensure effective enforcement across all sectors.
Ray Cullinane, Programme Manager, EPA Office of Environmental Enforcement, said:
“The findings highlight the importance of targeting enforcement activity where it can achieve the greatest environmental benefit. It is particularly encouraging that all 31 local authorities met the required standard for illegal waste enforcement, demonstrating the impact of focused and coordinated action. Local authorities should now build on this success to ensure effective enforcement across all priority areas, which will deliver better environmental outcomes for communities across Ireland.”
The Local Authority Environmental Enforcement Performance Report 2025 is available on the EPA website.
