Environment « Thurles Information

Record Surge in Irish Homelessness -16,614 Now In Emergency Accommodation.

Ireland’s homelessness crisis has deepened to its worst level on record, with 16,614 people living in emergency accommodation during the week of September 22nd to 28th 2025, according to the latest figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The data show 11,376 adults without a home, same up from 10,683 in January, marking a 6.5% increase in just nine months. Even more alarming is the rise in child homelessness: 5,238 children were recorded as homeless in September, compared with 4,603 in January, a jump of 13.8%; more than double the rate of increase among adults.

Breaking down the adult figures, male homelessness rose by 232 people (3.5%), while female homelessness climbed by 461 people (11.2%), significantly narrowing the gender gap.

Year-on-year, the total number of people in emergency accommodation is up by 1,854 (12.6%) compared with the same period in 2024.

These statistics exclude people who are sleeping rough, “couch-surfing”, or staying in hospitals, asylum-seeker centres or domestic-violence refuges—meaning the true scale of homelessness is even higher.

The Simon Communities of Ireland described the figures as “deeply worrying”. Executive Director Mr Bér Grogan said: “Children should be thinking about dressing up and going trick or treating, not wondering where they’ll sleep tonight. Families should be planning fun activities – not counting how many nights they have left in an emergency bed. Young people should be starting their lives, not starting adulthood in homelessness.”

With homelessness numbers climbing month after month, pressure on the housing system remains acute, fuelled by rising rents, ongoing evictions, and a shortage of secure, long-term accommodation.

The Simon Communities are urging Minister for Housing Mr James Browne to ensure that the forthcoming housing and homelessness strategy focuses on eradicating long-term homelessness, with an emphasis on prevention, targeted supports, and the rapid delivery of social and affordable housing.

EPA Report – Tipperary County Council Required To Focus On Performance.

The EPA has a supervisory role over local authorities and assesses their environmental inspection and enforcement performance under the EPA’s Local Authority Performance Framework.
There are 19 National Enforcement Priorities (NEPs) which focus on delivering positive environmental outcomes for air quality, water quality, waste management and environmental noise.

Local Authorities’ environmental performance is improving but continued commitment needed to deliver on National Enforcement Priorities.

Tipperary County Council is commended for achieving an Excellent result in the
Solid Fuel and Air Quality Monitoring & Data Use NEPs, however greater focus is
required in the areas where Moderate results were attained

Local authorities improved their environmental enforcement performance by 20% over the past three years, with 79% of the National Enforcement Priority (NEP) assessments meeting the required standard in 2024.

In 2024, 630 staff across 31 local authorities:

Conducted 227,400 environmental inspections,
Regulated 10,700 licences, permits and certificates,
Responded to 76,500 complaints,
Carried out 18,050 enforcement actions.
Initiated 414 prosecutions.
Six local authorities achieved high performance scores in 2024 namely Meath, Dublin City, South Dublin, Kildare, Fingal and Cork City Councils. The five lowest performing local authorities were Leitrim, Galway City, Sligo, Clare and Donegal.
Local authorities must prioritise and allocate appropriate resources to deliver the National Enforcement Priorities, which aim to improve air and water quality, promote increased recycling and re-use of waste and reduce people’s exposure to transport noise.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published its report on the environmental enforcement performance of local authorities in 2024. The report shows that the scale of environmental enforcement work carried out by local authorities in 2024 was extensive.

Across the 31 local authorities, 630 staff:

conducted 227,400 environmental inspections,
regulated 10,700 licences, permits and certificates,
responded to 76,500 complaints,
carried out 18,050 enforcement actions and
initiated 414 prosecutions.

The report found that local authorities have made strong progress in enforcing environmental regulations over the past three years. The report highlights improvements in areas such as tackling illegal waste activities and the enforcement of construction and demolition waste. However, it also points to the need for increased focus on water, air and noise enforcement to fully deliver on the National Enforcement Priorities. The findings underscore both the achievements to date and the ongoing challenges in delivering consistent and effective enforcement action across the country.

The EPA’s performance review found that:

Six local authorities achieved high performance scores in 2024. These were Meath, Dublin City, South Dublin, Kildare, Fingal and Cork City Councils.
Three further local authorities consistently achieved good performance scores over the past three years: Monaghan, Carlow and Cork County Councils.
The five lowest performing local authorities were Leitrim, Galway City, Sligo, Clare and Donegal.

Commenting on the findings of the report, Dr Tom Ryan, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “Strong enforcement of environmental laws is essential to detect pollution and ensure that those who break the rules are held responsible. Local authorities play a vital role in safeguarding our environment — especially when enforcement is prioritised and supported with the right resources. This report shows that most local authorities are responding to the challenge, but some such as Leitrim, Galway City, Sligo, Clare and Donegal are lagging behind and need to do better. Keeping up momentum is crucial to fully deliver on the National Enforcement Priorities and to protect our environment.”
Dr. Mick Henry, Senior Inspector in the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “Local authorities are making solid progress in waste enforcement, especially in tackling illegal activities and managing construction and demolition waste. However, enforcement in water, air and noise is showing slower progress. Agricultural run-off, trade effluent, solid fuel burning and traffic noise continue to harm the environment and public health. We are urging local authorities to strengthen their efforts in these areas to ensure a cleaner, healthier environment for all.”

Agriculture continues to have a significant impact on water quality, resulting in excess levels of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment entering our waterways. Local authorities must carry out more farm inspections and follow-up enforcement to reach the National Agricultural Inspection Programme annual target of 4,500 farms, to drive compliance with the Good Agricultural Practice regulations and reduce the impact on water quality.
Local authorities must also prioritise the inspection and enforcement of Section 4 Discharge Licences (trade effluent), particularly those that are a significant pressure on receiving water quality.

The Local Authority Environmental Enforcement Performance Report 2024 is available on the EPA website.

Large Oyster Mushroom Enjoying Tipperary Soft Weather.

Oyster Mushroom (Hypsizygus ulmarius)

Spotted this week in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, an oyster mushroom making the most of the mild autumn weather; a perfect reminder of how resilient and fascinating these woodland dwellers are.

Oyster mushrooms are among the most popular edible fungi in Ireland, known for their delicate flavour and firm texture. They are versatile in cooking and can be added to soups, pasta, and stir-fries, or sautéed as a side dish.

They typically grow high up on the trunks and branches of broadleaf hardwood trees in mixed woodlands.

**Large Oyster Mushroom** *(Hypsizygus ulmarius)*, **Thurles, Co. Tipperary**

Their fruiting bodies are semicircular or shell-shaped, often with smooth, pale caps that catch the light in forests. Though similar in look to other oyster-like species, this particular variety, Hypsizygus ulmarius, belongs to a different genus entirely. Its Latin name offers a small map of its habits: hypsi meaning “high up”, zygus referring to a “yoke”, and ulmarius translating to “of the elms”, its favourite tree host.

You’ll usually find these mushrooms sprouting individually from branch scars and wounds on living elms and box elders, though they occasionally make their home on beech, maple, willow, oak, or even, as in this case, an apple tree.

While they prefer living trees, slowly causing white rot in the wood, they can also thrive on fallen trunks and decaying branches. That duality, living as both parasite and saprotroph (Latter an organism that feeds on or derives nourishment from decaying organic matter), makes them remarkable survivors, feeding either on the living or the dead.

So next time you’re walking through a Tipperary woodland, look up, not down. The quiet life clinging to the bark above might just be an oyster mushroom enjoying the same soft weather as the rest of us.

Uisce Éireann Begins €1m Upgrade Of Templetuohy Water Supply.

Uisce Éireann has begun a €1 million upgrade of the Templetuohy, Co. Tipperary, Public Water Supply, in a project aimed at ensuring a safe, secure, and reliable drinking water supply for more than 800 customers in the area.

The works, which are now underway, will deliver significant improvements to the local water treatment plant, strengthening the system and ensuring ongoing compliance with national drinking water standards.

The Templetuohy supply is currently listed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Remedial Action List (RAL), which identifies public water supplies requiring improvements. Uisce Éireann said the upgrade will address these issues through a more robust and advanced treatment process.

Key elements of the project include the installation of a modernised disinfection system and an enhanced monitoring process to ensure greater efficiency and reliability.

Ward and Burke Construction is carrying out the works on behalf of Uisce Éireann, with the upgrade expected to be completed by early 2026.

Water Quality In Ireland Continues To Decline Overall.

At the current level of progress, Ireland will fail to meet the EU and national goal of restoring all waters to good or better status by 2027.
Excess nutrients from agriculture, urban wastewater and other human activities remains the biggest challenge, followed by changes to physical habitat conditions.
Just over half (52%) of our surface waters are in satisfactory ecological condition, which is a deterioration from the previous assessment for 2016-2021, where 54% of surface waterbodies met their water quality objectives.
There is evidence that nutrient levels are reducing in areas where actions are being targeted, which is very welcome. The scale and pace of implementation need to be increased.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published their flagship Water Quality in Ireland Report 2019-2024, which provides the latest, 3-yearly assessment of the quality of Ireland’s rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal waters, canals and groundwaters. This assessment includes multiple water quality parameters that are monitored and assessed to give an integrated picture of the condition of our waters.
The report shows that, despite improvements in some areas, water quality in Ireland is not as good as it should be and is continuing to decline overall:

**River Suir, Thurles, Co. Tipperary**
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

52% of rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters are in a satisfactory ecological condition, which means in good or high ecological status. This is a decline since the 2016-2021 assessment when 54% of surface waters were satisfactory.
Transitional waters, including estuaries and coastal lagoons, are in the poorest condition of any waterbody type, with 70% in an unsatisfactory condition, up from 64% in the last assessment.
92% of groundwaters are in good status. Canals are also in relatively good condition with 87% achieving their water quality targets.

**Sewage Pipe flows into River Suir in Thurles Town Centre.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

Commenting on the report, Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment, said: “Our rivers, lakes and estuaries are the lifeblood of our landscape and support our ecosystems, and our health and wellbeing. But they are struggling. They do not have the resilience to cope with the challenges they face, now and in the future. Surface water quality overall has been in decline since before the first of these assessments was carried out by the EPA in the late 2000s.
It is very disappointing to report that water quality is not improving despite the many actions that are underway, across all sectors. It’s clear the scale and pace of implementation needs to be increased and sustained.”
The main pressures impacting on water quality are excess nutrients coming mainly from agriculture, urban wastewater discharges, and damage to the physical condition of water habitats from activities such as land and river drainage, forestry and urban development.
The report highlights that there have been improvements in phosphorus levels in our surface waters in areas prioritised for action where the right measures are implemented in the right places to target interventions. There were also reductions in nitrogen levels in many river monitoring sites in recent years, which is welcome. Further reductions will be needed to reach levels that will support healthy ecosystems.

Dr Jenny Deakin, EPA Programme Manager added: “The decreases in phosphorus levels in areas prioritised for action are very welcome. While further reductions will be needed as well as reduction in nitrate levels, this report shines a light on the progress that can be made when actions are targeted. It is essential that better information is collected by all stakeholders, on when and where the actions are being implemented on the ground, to provide better information on how the progress can be accelerated.”
Information about local water quality and the pressures impacting it is available at www.catchments.ie