The Agency has predicted that the proposed introduction of incinerators would amount to 17% of total emissions here but that most of this would be dealt with at monitored sites.
However the EPA has entered a qualification to its first ever report on dioxins, saying that the study is not based on hard data but estimates and so a degree of uncertainty remains.
However, the Director of the EPA, Dr Mary Kelly, said Ireland produced a relatively low amount of dioxins.
For the year 2000 the agency estimated that 58% of emissions was generated by burning domestic waste whereas accidental building fires generated just 11%.
In relation to proposed incinerators the EPA estimates that they would contribute 17% of emissions, but only 2% of these dioxins would be admitted to error.
This is unlikely to placate the anti-incinerator lobby as the remaining dioxins will be in incinerator ash.
The EPA report is part of a €32 million programme which aims to have more accurate information next time from targeted monitoring.
Dioxins are highly toxic and persist in the environment for extended periods.
They are produced during the incineration of wastes and are a contaminant in chemical manufacturing processes.
ESB unions say EU gas taxes threaten jobs
In a separate development the largest union representing workers at the ESB has said the EU's plans to introduce new gas taxes and emission trading between member states pose a serious threat to jobs at power stations in the midwest and the midlands.
The ATGWU has said it is in favour of taking effective measures to prevent climate change but if the new trading laws go ahead in 2005 the production of electricity from coal and peat could be banned.
