Ms Laura Burke:

I thank the Chairman for giving me the opportunity to attend this meeting.

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA is to protect and improve the environment as a valuable asset for the people of Ireland. The objective is to have a clean, healthy and well protected environment supporting a sustainable society and economy.

The EPA performs a wide range of statutory functions for the protection of the environment. In May 2011 an independent external review of the agency was completed. The report of the review group states that, overall, the EPA has provided "considerable benefit for Ireland's environment and for the health and well-being of its people" and that the environmental expertise within the agency is a significant national resource. I take the opportunity to recognise the contribution of EPA staff in delivering the objectives of the agency.

While it is understood the focus of the committee's session is on the EPA's financial statements for 2011, I have also included updates on developments during 2012 and 2013 throughout the briefing document provided for committee members in advance of the meeting.

The EPA has a key role in licensing facilities with the potential to cause significant environmental pollution to ensure their emissions do not endanger human health or harm the environment. In 2011 we issued 163 licences and 467 certificates of authorisation. We also carried out more than 1,000 inspections and audits and took 23 prosecutions in the District Court. One licensee was issued with a notification of intention to revoke a licence. In 2012 we took 16 successful prosecutions in the District Court and a further case, taken on indictment by the Director of Public Prosecution on foot of a file prepared by the EPA, resulted in fines of over €1 million being awarded for odour nuisance.

In 2011 the national waste prevention programme, NWPP, led by the EPA, continued to deliver substantive results in preventing and minimising waste through its BeGreen resource efficiency programmes. The 2012 results from the BeGreen programmes such as Green Business, Green Hospitality and Green Health care identified economic savings in excess of €10 million, with further potential savings of €5 million, from an investment by the EPA of circa €1.2 million.

With regard to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions figures released by the EPA in 2011 showed that Ireland's emissions had fallen by 1.1% in 2010. Our latest figures show that Ireland will comply with its Kyoto Protocol obligations for greenhouse gas emissions; however, there continues to be a significant risk that Ireland will not meet its EU 2020 targets, with Ireland projected to breach annual limits by 2015-16.

The EPA's report on air quality in Ireland in 2011 found that air quality met all EU standards. Clean, healthy and well protected water is essential to maintain viable and vibrant communities across all areas of Ireland, urban and rural. The EPA's drinking water report for 2011 showed that public water supplies serving more than 80% of the population continued to improve, with results indicating that the quality of our larger supplies was equivalent to similar supplies elsewhere in Europe. By the end of 2011, 100% of public drinking water supplies had chlorine monitors installed, up from 30% in 2008-09.

With regard to bathing water, while over 97% of bathing waters met the minimum EU mandatory standard in 2012, only 67% met the more stringent EU guide values. This is significantly down on previous years but similar to reductions observed both in Scotland and other part of the United Kingdom as a result of the high levels of rainfall during the summer of 2012.

Since the EPA was established in 1993, the Comptroller and Auditor General has issued a clean audit report in respect of each year's financial statements. The EPA's 2011 annual accounts were signed off on by the Comptroller and Auditor General on 12 July 2012. The total budget available to the EPA in 2011 was €59.8 million. The EPA's budget has reduced from €65 million in 2009 to €53 million in 2013, while staff numbers have reduced from 343 to 309. During the same period the statutory functions assigned to the EPA have increased. In spite of these changed circumstances, the EPA has carried out and will continue to carry out its key roles in environmental regulation, the provision of knowledge, in advocating for the environment and delivering the valuable societal outcomes for which we are recognised.