The EPA, and specifically our Office of Environmental Enforcement (OEE), is responsible for the environmental regulation of large industrial and waste management activities. Our objective is to ensure that Licensees carry out their activities in accordance with their EPA licence.
We achieve this by promoting compliance, offering guidance and support, conducting inspections and sampling, monitoring activities, and enforcing regulations, when necessary.
The EPA has developed a system of performance-based indicators to rank industrial and waste-licensed sites in order of priority for enforcement - the National Priority Sites System.
A total score is assigned to each Licensee based on the underlying scores assigned to them over the previous six months.
The system has four key scoring components:
The higher the score the poorer the compliance is at a site.
View the latest National Priority Sites List
The EPA takes account of the number of complaints made by the public about a site, which are linked to either a Medium or High ranked open Compliance Investigation. A complaint alone does not contribute to the total score; it must be linked to either a Medium or High ranked open Compliance Investigation and the score for complaints is capped to a maximum of 20 points.
Complaints Score Allocation
1 point per complaint
Licensees are required to notify the EPA in the event of a breach of a licence condition. The EPA receives a large number of incident reports each year. Incidents are categorised as: Minor, Limited, Serious, Very Serious, or Catastrophic.
Most incidents reported to the EPA are classified as Minor.
Points are assigned based on the category of the incident as follows:
| Incidents Score Allocation | |
|---|---|
| Minor | No Score |
| Limited | 5 points |
| Serious | 10 points |
| Very Serious | 20 points |
| Catastrophic | 30 points |
View the most recent list of incidents notified to the EPA.
Read more about Incidents and their classifications.
A Non-Compliance (NC) notification is issued to a facility when a licence condition is breached or where a Licensee fails to notify the EPA of an incident on-site. Points are assigned based on the number of non-compliances recorded by the EPA.
| Non-Compliances Score Allocation | |
|---|---|
| Non-Compliance with licence | 1 point |
| NC for non-notification of an incident | 5 points |
Read more about Non-Compliances
A Compliance Investigation (CI) is opened by the EPA when there is an issue on a site that is causing, or has the potential to cause, an environmental impact and requires action by the Licensee.
The EPA monitors progress to ensure that the actions required are completed.
Compliance Investigations are categorised as High, Medium, or Low based on the risk to the environment. Points are assigned based on the category of the CI and whether it is ‘Open’ or ‘Closed’.
| Compliance Investigations Score Allocation | ||
|---|---|---|
| CI Rating* | Open | Closed |
| High | 20 points | 4 points |
| Medium | 10 points | 2 points |
| Low | 3 points | 1 point |
| Note: only the top 3 highest scoring CIs are counted | ||
* CIs can only be scored as medium/high for odour/noise if a non-compliant odour or noise-related issue has been recorded by the EPA during the previous 12 weeks and/or if an action in the CI has not been addressed to the satisfaction of the Agency.
Read more about Compliance Investigations.
We use the National Priority Sites List to target our enforcement efforts at the licensed operators with the poorest environmental performance. A site becomes a National Priority Site when it has a total score of more than 30 points and a CI score of 10 points or more. Highlighting these sites helps us to drive improvements in environmental compliance. National Priority Sites are highlighted on the EPA website and on our Social Media channels, EPA Ireland on LinkedIn, EPA Ireland on Instagram, and EPA Ireland on X.
View the latest National Priority Sites List
The National Priority Sites List is produced by the EPA on a quarterly basis (using data from the previous 6 months).
The system applies to active EPA-licensed industrial and waste sites only. There are approximately 900 sites to which the National Priority Sites System is applied currently.
The system does not apply to the following EPA-regulated activities:
Note 1 – The EPA publishes the Wastewater Priorities for urban wastewater treatment plants.
Note 2 - The EPA publishes a “Remedial Action List” for all public drinking water treatment plants.
Read about sites that have appeared in the News and Media.
The EPA uses the National Priority Sites to focus its enforcement effort at the worst performing sites. Sites that appear on the list are subject to an escalation of enforcement action by the EPA, up to and including legal action, suspension or revocation.