Make an environmental complaint

Contact the person or business causing the problem

If you come across an environmental problem, the quickest way to fix it is to contact the person or business you think is causing the problem. They may not be aware of the problem or its effects and may be happy to fix it.

If you contact them, we suggest that you:

• Outline the issue to them
• Explain how you would like to see it resolved
• Ask them to specify a timescale for this to be achieved
• Ask to be informed when the work has been completed

Contact the relevant public body

If you do not want to contact the person or business causing the problem, you should make a complaint to your local council or the EPA. This will depend on who is causing the problem:

Your local council is responsible for dealing with complaints that do not involve a site regulated by the EPA.

• If the issue involves an EPA regulated site, the local authority will pass on your complaint to the EPA for a response.

If you know that the source of the problem is a site that operates under an EPA licence, permit or authorisation, contact the EPA.

• If the issue does not involve an EPA regulated site, we will pass on your complaint to the local authority for a response

If you don’t know who is responsible, contact your local authority as your first port of call

You can also make a complaint about the performance of a local council.

Your local council will investigate your complaint. If your complaint is about an EPA regulated site, the council will pass on your complaint to us.

Call the National Environmental Complaints Line (NECL)

Tel: 1800 365 123, open 24-hours, 7-days per week.

Use the 'See It? Say It!' smartphone app

Apple iPhone: Download from the Apple App StoreAndroid smartphone: Download from the Android Play Store

Contact your local council directly

Find contact details for your local authority.

Irish Water manages and delivers public drinking water and waste water services in Ireland.

Contact Irish Water if you wish to complain about these areas.

Irish Water

Tel: 1800 278 278
Email: operations@water.ie
Web: www.water.ie/contact

If you are unhappy with the response you get from Irish Water or if your issue remains, contact us in the EPA. Include the Reference Number Irish Water gave you, if possible.

Online complaint form

Submit an environmental complaint to the EPA online.

Note: To report environmental damage under the Environmental Liability Regulations, use the same online complaint form provided above.

Telephone

EPA Headquarters: 053 916 0600
LoCall: 0818 33 55 99

Both are 24-hour/seven days per week

This may incur varying charges depending on your mobile provider

If you call the EPA outside of normal business hours (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays), you will reach our out-of-hours service.

Please follow the instructions to leave a message which will be reviewed on the next working day or, if the matter is an environmental emergency, it will be assessed that day by an EPA officer.

Email address

Email: info@epa.ie

Postal address

Environmental Protection Agency
PO Box 3000
Johnstown Castle Estate
County Wexford
Y35 W821

When you make a complaint about an environmental issue, you will be asked to give your name and contact details. These are “personal data” under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. This means that your personal details will not be published or made available in any publicly accessible form.

When you report an environmental issue to your local council, they will investigate the matter and take the appropriate action to address it. Where appropriate they will keep you informed of progress and will let you know when they have concluded their investigation and corrective actions.

If the local council has not addressed the problem in a reasonable period, or if you are not satisfied that the problem has been properly investigated, you may lodge a complaint with the EPA make a complaint to the EPA:

You should provide details about:

• the nature, duration and impact of the problem
• your interactions directly with the operator/source of the problem (if any)
• your communications with your local council (for example, correspondence, emails, records of your contacts)
• any progress made to date.

The EPA will review the local council performance of their environmental duties:

• If we determine that the local council has done what the law requires of them, then we will close the file.
• If we decide the local council has not performed its duties adequately, we will consider further actions. These may include issuing legal notices or directing the local council to carry out certain actions for the purposes of environmental protection.

We will inform you if we close the file or if we decide to take further action.

Remember, the EPA will not become involved until the local council has first been given an opportunity to investigate your complaint.