Tipperary Co-op and Arrow Group were among the most visited sites by the state’s environmental watchdog in 2020.

[colored_box color="green"]This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its annual summary report on the enforcement activities carried out last year, along with the list of sites which were designated as National Priority Sites.[/colored_box]

Complaints about local licensed facilities almost doubled last year. The EPA carried out just under 1,100 inspections, of which 200 were remote compliance assessments.

13% of all inspections in 2020 investigated odour complaints from the public, and 14% of all inspections were to sites on the National Priority Site list.

12 sites were identified as National Priority Sites in 2020, an increase from 11 sites in 2019.

Five of the 2019 sites were again designated as National Priority Sites in 2020, including Arrow Group and Tipperary Co-op .

Arrow Group and Arran Chemical Company of ‘serious concern’

Commenting on the publication of the latest National Priority Sites list, Darragh Page, EPA programme manager, said:

“Sites with significant non-compliances with their licence conditions and regular incidents and complaints are placed on the National Priority Sites List.

“They are both the subject of ongoing enforcement action to resolve the environmental issues and to bring them into compliance.”