Thurles Information

Progress, economic prosperity, and health all threatened unless Ireland increases the scale, pace, and ambition of environmental action.

Dul chun cinn, rathúnas geilleagrach agus sláinte i mbaol mura méadaíonn Éire scála, luas agus uail.(Irish Language Translation: Progress, economic prosperity and health are at risk if Ireland does not increase scale, speed and ambition (pride).

• Ireland has modernized and prospered since joining the EU over 50 years ago – future prosperity and health are threatened unless we better protect our environment.
• We are continuously playing catch-up – a forward step in one area is often matched by one or two steps back in another.
• Actions on many fronts are having positive impacts but are entirely inadequate to deliver a healthy environment.
• For too long we have merely aimed to ‘get by’, aspiring to only minimum standards – in many instances, we don’t even reach those.
• Serious action cannot be postponed – we need a rapid and resolute advance in environmental performance driven by a national policy position on the environment.

For too long, the Report says, we have merely aimed to ‘get by’ aspiring to only minimum standards, and then in many instances not even meeting those. The report shows that actions on multiple fronts to address issues are not keeping pace with growing pressures and our environment continues to degrade. What is now needed, the report continues, is a strategic leap, a shared vision for how we will adapt our lives and work to protect our own existence within the next decade, and a national policy statement on the environment that articulates and drives this transition.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Ms Laura Burke, Director General of the EPA said: “We have made immense progress as a nation. Our membership of the EU helped us achieve that. We now look back to a time when we had serious industrial pollution of our rivers, when we relied on over a hundred municipal dumps, when we burned smoky fuel in our cities – and we can never go back to that”.

“But where we are right now,” Ms Burke added, “while it is better, is nowhere near good enough. We are always playing catch-up. We now have virtually no seriously polluted rivers, but we have hardly any pristine ones left, either. We now recycle more, but produce more waste than ever and export much of it. We are taking positive actions across multiple fronts, but they are not keeping pace with the growing pressures, and our environment is being squeezed. Increments now are not best use of scarce time and resources: We need to make a fundamental shift.”

That fundamental shift, according to the report, would start with a national policy position on the environment, that allows for long-term planning and would ensure that the environment is prioritised consistently across decades.

• The report identifies five key essential areas we must prioritise to deliver the impact we need:
• We urgently need a national policy position on the environment.
• We must rigorously implement existing environmental plans and programmes to achieve the benefits that they were developed to deliver.
• We need to transform our energy, transport, food and industrial sectors.
• We need to scale up investment in water, energy, transport and waste management infrastructure.
• We need to understand the absolute link between protecting our environment and protecting our health – harm one and we harm the other.

“We know what we have to do” Ms Burke added. “Our energy, transport, food and industrial sectors are the core of where this transformation can, must, and will happen. We must harness all of our resources to meet this challenge. Not acting now only postpones inevitable change that will be much more difficult, and more costly, later on.”

Dr Micheál Lehane, EPA Director said: “It is clear that our environmental challenges are interconnected and they are complex. We need to drive action across climate, biodiversity, sustainable consumption and pollution goals. This will not be easy and we cannot underestimate the challenges of moving to a path of a less wasteful, regenerative society. The IPCC has highlighted that there is now a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. It is not negotiable. We need our air, water and natural environment to continue to prosper. You either change for the environment now or the environment will irrevocably change us and how we live later. We, in Ireland, must do our part in making this sustainable future a reality.”

Ms Laura Burke, Director General of the EPA concluded: “We can no longer take the environment for granted. By taking determined actions, we will ensure we are not going to go back, or playing catch-up. This time, we need to be ahead. A healthier environment is attainable for all and is within our reach.”

This comprehensive State of the Environment Report is available to download from the EPA website by clicking HERE.