Half complaints received by EPA to September related to four licensed industrial and waste sites
The EPA today published the latest National Priority Sites List, and published updated information on the enforcement activities of the EPA during the first nine months of 2020. The EPA welcomes the fact that three sites have come off the last National Priority Sites List which was published in July 2020, following improvements in compliance (Table 2). The current list identifies six sites that are the focus of the EPA’s enforcement activities.
Commenting on the publication of the latest List, Mr. Darragh Page, EPA Programme Manager, said “Most EPA licence holders work hard to protect the environment and comply with their licence. Sites can be added to the National Priority Sites List due to a failure to adhere to their license and the risk they pose to the environment. But, it should be notes that these sites account for less than one per cent of the 800 plus sites licensed by the EPA. The EPA will continue to focus our enforcement efforts on those who pose a risk to the environment or cause environmental pollution and those on the list can expect further enforcement action from the EPA.”
The full list of National Priority Sites for the period April to September 2020 is in Table 1 below.
Table 1: National Priority Sites – 6-month period 01 April 2020 to 30 September 2020.
| PO110-02 | Arran Chemical Company Limited | Roscommon | Chemical |
| PO812-01 | Arrow Group | Kildare | Food & Drink |
| PO217-02 | Killarney Waste Disposal Unlimited Company | Kerry | Waste |
| PO281-01 | Limerick Gas Works | Limerick | Waste |
| PO693-02 | Takeda Ireland Limited | Dublin | Chemical |
| PO801-01 | Tipperary Cooperative Creamery Limited | Tipperary | Food & Drink |
*Arrow Group Limited includes the activities at this licensed site of Dawn Farm Foods Ltd, TCFG Naas Ltd (also known as The Culinary Food Group), QK Coldstores Ltd, Dawn Farms Distribution Ltd and Maudlins Waste Management Ltd.
Table 2: Sites removed from the National Priority List which was published in July 2020
| W0205-01 | Greyhound Recycling and Recovery | Dublin | Waste |
| P0571-04 | Merck Millipore Limited | Cork | Surface Coating |
| W0023-01 | Raffeen Landfill Site (Cork CoCo) | Cork | Waste |
- Six sites were identified as National Priority Sites for the period April to September 2020. There were from three sectors – Waste, Food & Drink and the Chemical sector.
- Four sites (Arrow Group, Tipperary Co-operative Creamery Limited, Merck Millipore Limited, Limerick Gasworks) accounted for 51% of all industrial/waste odour complaints in 2020.
- Three sites have been removed from the National Priority Sites List since the EPA last published the list in July 2020 – Merck Millipore Limited, Raffeen Landfill Site (Cork Co. Co.), Greyhound Recycling and Recovery.
- The continued poor compliance status and presence of Arrow Group as a National Priority Site remains a serious concern to the EPA and the facility is the subject of ongoing enforcement action.
- Complaints to the EPA about licensed sites have increased dramatically in 2020, with 598 received in the first nine months of the year, compared to 225 in the same period last year.
Source – EPA
