Dr. Eimear Cotter:

I am first clarifying the role of the EPA in response to the Deputy’s question. The second part of his question related to who is responsible and who needs to be held accountable. From our point of view, in terms of our oversight of local authorities, every year we have called out where we think local authorities need to up their performance in the implementation of environmental legislation. They are responsible for a significant amount of environmental legislation in Ireland.

In respect to water quality, we have said in our latest assessment that local authorities need to deploy their resources more effectively to protect water quality and air quality. In particular in relation to water quality, which is what we are here to speak about today, that includes implementing the good agricultural practice regulations, which sit under the nitrates directive, increasing the number of farm inspections, following through on those inspections, and taking enforcement action where it is needed.

From our point of view, in terms of who needs to up their performance, we would highlight the very important role of local authorities and their need to deploy more effectively the resources they have now, in particular focusing on air and water quality legislation.