Ireland's state water utility is still failing EU sewage-treatment standards in large towns and discharging raw sewage daily from others, the environmental regulator found
Subject of this story
Also named
What happened
The Environmental Protection Agency's Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2024 report, released 8 October 2025, found that 14 large towns and cities served by Uisce Éireann failed EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive standards (six of which had complied in 2023), 59% of licensed wastewater plants did not consistently meet their EPA licence conditions, and 15 towns and villages were still discharging raw sewage every day (down from 19 at the start of 2024 and expected to fall to 11 by the end of 2025). Uisce Éireann had not started works at half of the 78 priority areas the EPA identified, and the EPA said it has prosecuted the utility 28 times for failing to treat wastewater properly. Upgrades required by a 2019 Court of Justice of the European Union judgment against Ireland were completed or nearly completed at only four of six large urban areas.
Sources (1)
Response
Not yet contacted for this story.
What happened next (0)
No outcome recorded yet.