Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I will start with questions for the EPA. The citizens' assembly report made three recommendations relating to increasing sanctions for polluters of water. Recommendations Nos. 97, 45 and 46 all basically proposed that penalties should be increased and should be linked to the total size of the corporation so that they have a meaningful impact. What is the EPA doing? To what extent is it in the EPA's remit to implement those recommendations? How many prosecutions for pollution of water take place each year? What types of pollutions are people prosecuted for? What sorts of penalties are imposed on people?

I will give one anecdotal example. The River Poddle which goes through my constituency seems to be polluted quite regularly. Some of the issues appear to come from industrial discharge. As far as I know there have never been any prosecutions for it and I am concerned that that might be the case more widely.