The European Commission has referred Ireland to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to fully report its river basin management plan.
Ireland was referred to the court for being late on finalising the plan along with several other countries.
It follows on from a final warning from the commission in September, when it formally called on Ireland to complete its reviews of its river basin management plan and flood risk management plan.
These plans are required under the EU Water Framework Directive and the EU Floods Directive. Both directives require member states to review, update, and report these plans every six years.
Five other EU member states beside Ireland have been referred to the court for failing to comply with these requirements, namely Spain; Malta; Portugal; Bulgaria, and Slovakia.
The purpose of river basin management plans, according to the commission, is to outline a programme of measures to ensure good status of all water bodies through “an integrated approach to water management, respecting the integrity of whole ecosystems, including by regulating individual pollutants and setting corresponding regulatory standards”.
The commission sent formal notices of non-compliance to the offending member states in February 2023, followed by reasoned opinions in September, which is the final step in the EU’s infringement process before the commission refers a country to the Court of Justice.
In providing the latest update yesterday (Wednesday, February 8), the commission said that it “considers that efforts by the authorities have, to date, been insufficient and is therefore referring Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Both Ireland and Bulgaria were cited for failing to fully report their third river basin management plans.
Slovakia has been referred to the court for not fully reporting its flood risk management plan, while Spain, Malta and Portugal have been referred for failing to report both their river basin management plans and flood risk management plans.
Despite the failure of Ireland to fully report its third river basin management plan, it appears that the plan is at least partially complete, with a target of 4,500 farms to be inspected annually under the plan by 2025.
That’s according to Ray Cullinane, a senior manager in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, who spoke at the Teagasc Water Quality Conference yesterday.
He said that there had been 1,000 local authority farm inspections carried out during 2022.
“When we did the analysis on the 2022 data for the 31 local authorities we got a figure back of roughly 10 full-time equivalent persons throughout the whole country who were dedicated to agricultural inspections, which is a very low number.”
Cullinane said that 21 additional staff are currently being recruited by local authorities around the country, with more expected to follow.
“There will be more farm inspections carried out, that’s ultimately what the goal will be,” he said.