Donegal council demonstrates high performance across 80% of key environmental priorities
Donegal County Council demonstrated high performance in delivering National Enforcement Priorities (NEPs) in 2025, with 80 per cent of environmental assessments rated as ‘strong’ or ‘excellent’.
Local authority’s are monitored across 15 National Enforcement Priorities (NEPs), which target the most significant environmental risks and compliance challenges across the country.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual report on environmental enforcement performance DCC was rated ‘excellent’ when it came to regulating solid fuel use, monitoring air quality, planning for environmental inspections and compliance and recording and reporting compliance and enforcement data.
The council achieved a ‘strong’ rating on tackling illegal waste, managing construction and demolition material, on commercial waste, plastics and producer responsibility initiatives, local water quality, local air and noise investigations, on agricultural pressures from farmyards and on discharge licences and misconnections.
It was scored ‘moderate’ for household waste, agricultural pressures from farmland and on enforcement of the environmental noise directive.
Across the country as a whole the EPA found that 83 per cent of the NEP work carried out by local authorities met the required standard of strong or excellent, an increase of 4 per cent compared to 2024.
Three local authorities - Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Galway City Council and South Dublin County Council - met the required standard across all NEPs. In addition, all local authorities achieved the required standard for illegal waste enforcement.
However, the report also identifies performance gaps, with 17 per cent of NEP assessments falling below the required standard. Two local authorities - Leitrim County Council and Sligo County Council - failed to meet the required standard across multiple priority areas.
Dr. Tom Ryan, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, said: “Local authorities play a vital role in protecting Ireland’s environment and communities and, in 2025, most local authorities demonstrated strong overall environmental enforcement performance. Improvements were evident across several key enforcement priorities with increased inspection and enforcement activity. However, some local authorities such as Leitrim and Sligo County Councils need to do much better.
"Our report also identifies areas where stronger and more consistent enforcement is needed, particularly in relation to waste segregation, discharges to water and transport noise. Local authorities must address these shortcomings by prioritising and allocating appropriate resources to maintain the positive momentum and to ensure consistent and effective environmental protection across the country.”
The EPA said it will continue to monitor local authority performance and work with local authorities to improve environmental outcomes and ensure effective enforcement across all sectors.
Ray Cullinane, Programme Manager, EPA Office of Environmental Enforcement, said: “The findings highlight the importance of targeting enforcement activity where it can achieve the greatest environmental benefit. It is particularly encouraging that all 31 local authorities met the required standard for illegal waste enforcement, demonstrating the impact of focused and coordinated action.
"Local authorities should now build on this success to ensure effective enforcement across all priority areas, which will deliver better environmental outcomes for communities across Ireland.”
The Local Authority Environmental Enforcement Performance Report 2025 is available on the EPA website.