Problems with odour and noise nuisance from industrial and waste facilities were the leading reasons for complaints from the public to the Environmental Protection Agency last year, the body said this morning.
More than 750 complaints were made in 2014 in relation to odour alone, with 98% related to the waste management and food and drink sectors, according to the EPA Licensed Sites 2014 Report on Air Emissions.
96% of all air-related incidents reported to the EPA were classified as "minor", with only one incident recorded as "serious".
This incident related to a fire at the Oxigen facility in Ballymount, Dublin.
Nearly 70% of the odour complaints were about just ten sites, of which 41% related to the top five sites: Arrow Group, P0812; Ballynagran Residual Landfill, W0165; Country Clean Recycling Limited, W0257; Oxigen Environmental, W0144; and Greyhound Recycling & Recovery, W0205.
Almost 80% of noise complaints related to five sites: Nurendale Rathdrinagh, Cooley Distillery, Rosderra Irish Meats Group Edenderry, Arrabawn Co-operative Society Limited, and Arrow Group.
Commenting on the report, Gerard O’Leary, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: "People living near industrial and waste sites should not be exposed to nuisance odour or noise. Historically, waste management activities were the dominant source of odour complaints received by the EPA.
"However, the Food & Drink sector now accounts for 40% of all odour complaints and 64% of all noise complaints. The EPA will continue to use enforcement powers to bring the operators of these facilities into line and ensure they improve their environmental performance and achieve compliance with their licence requirements."
Mr O’Leary added: "We take every complaint seriously and will investigate and take the necessary enforcement action to resolve nuisance issues in relation to licensed sites. We would encourage the public to continue to report environmental problems so that they can be resolved speedily.
"People have a range of options to make complaints easily: via our on-line complaints form, directly to their local EPA office by phone, through the EPA National Environmental Complaints 24 hour Phone Line, or through our Android and iPhone ‘See It! Say It!’ Apps.
