State of the Systems (Episode 11)

It’s been two years since this podcast first launched, and I began then with an overview of where Ireland stood in regards in the environment. It’s also budget week, which means the government has made certain statements that imply what the financial priorities for the next year will be. I spoke about how you can find environmental projects for last years budget in episode ten, so I won’t get into that kind of detail again. On the wider environmental front, some things have not changed since that original overview, we’re still one of the lowest ranked countries in Europe for forest cover, for example. Water quality continues to be a concern. The headlines around Lough Neagh have not died down, the Save Lough Neagh campaign has been putting in continuous work to highlight the ongoing pollution causing ecological breakdown in Ireland’s largest lake with nearly apocalyptic images of vivid algae blooms from phosphate farm run-off and human effluent from badly managed waste treatment.

I cited last time an Environmental Protection Agency assessment of Irish waterways done between 2019 and 2022 that stated that 44% of rivers were in what they classify as unsatisfactory or bad biological condition. 40% of rivers had unsatisfactory levels of nitrates and 28% with phosphates. Over a third of Irish lakes have too much phosphorus in them. The EPA’s Early Insights Nitrogen Indicator report for the first half of 2025 shows that nitrogen levels in rivers have increased by 16 per cent since the same period in 2024. This is a really troubling trend, showing that despite the issue getting attention little progress is being made.

This summer, for all that it received little media coverage, there was one of the largest fish kills due to river pollution in Irish history. On August 11, at least 40,000 fish died in the River Blackwater and the River Clyda in the Mallow area. The fish, which included trout and salmon parr, dace, salmon, and freshwater eels, were found along an 18km stretch of the river between Lombardstown and Killavullen. EPA inspectors have found a number of sites along the watercourse that were in breach of their licenses but couldn’t connect any one of them definitively to the fish deaths. This was the second significant fish kill in Cork this summer, with 1500 dead trout and freshwater eels in the River Douglas in July. In neither case did prosecutions occur.

One measure of environmental progress, is the Climate Change Performance Index, an independent monitoring tool published once a year that ranks countries performance on climate action. In our opening episode in 2023, Ireland had recently risen to 37^th position in the world from the mid forties. Last year that dropped back down to 43^rd though this year has seen us make significant progress to 29^th. This also significantly moves Ireland from the bottom half of performers in Europe to 13^th among the EU 27. The CCPI team points to poor implementation of existing policies as Ireland’s biggest pitfall.

One of the big concerns is our carbon equivalent emissions per capita, meaning per person. They peaked in 2000 and have been trending downwards overall, but not fast enough to meet the targets that Ireland committed to in the Paris Agreement. Emissions fell to 13.3 tonnes in 2021 but the Paris compatible target for that year was 8.5. This went down again in 2023 in figures released since I recorded that first episode, to 10.4 according to the EPA, the CCPI claims it is slightly higher at 11.6. This is probably due to different methodologies. The Paris compatible target for 2023 was 7.6, so while Ireland continues to fall short the trends not only are going down but pace of that trend is improving. Back in July the EPA announced that Ireland was noting a 2% overall reduction in emissions. This was a decline for the third year in a row. It’s important not to get complacent however, since the EU average is 5.4 tonnes per capita and we have a long way to go to get there. Ireland is also facing potentially billions of euros in fines when we fail to meet our targets as agreed in EU law and international treaties. The most recent Comptroller and Auditor General report from last month, estimates fines between €3 billion and €26 billion.

The National Park and Wildlife Service produce detailed reports on the status of protected habitats and species every six years. These are EU document called Article 17 Reports from the article of the Habitats Directive. The most recent report is due to be published this year, but unfortunately I’m a month or two too early. In the 2019 survey, 85% of protected habitats in Ireland were in an inadequate or bad condition. 46% of those habitats were considered to still be declining in health and only 2% of protected habitats in Ireland are thought to be improving. I haven’t seen any early indications that those trends have been meaningfully reversed, but I’ll discuss that report in detail when it comes out in December.

Marine protection has been prevalent in the news this year, with growing concerns about fish stocks, marine litter, and the protection of Ireland’s cold water reefs and kelp beds. The promise of a Marine Protected Areas bill has been dangled since the last election, but has yet to materialise. In a scattershot of other environmental news; EPA inspections have found at least 38 large scale, illegal peat extraction operations and that half of all septic tanks don’t meet standards. These are damning figures but the fact that we have them, that inspectors are on site and flagging these issues sadly is progress. In brighter news, Ireland has met air quality targets in some really key areas for the wider environment and human health, bringing down levels of ammonia, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter and non-methane volatile organic compounds. The EU has made additions to its invasive alien species lists to include some seriously effecting the Irish environment and wildlife, such as sika deer, American mink, and Japanese Knotweed. This opens up opportunities for funding and collaboration with other EU countries. Irish Corncrake populations have increased 35% in recent years, reversing a trend that meant many though the birds were a lost cause.

If you are looking for a broad overview in future, the EPA publishes its State of the Irish Environment Reports, the latest one from just last year. Unfortunately, the trends it highlights make for grim reading.

In regards the newly published budget specifically, there will be plenty of talk surrounding the latest increase to the carbon taxes, up to to €71 per tonne, projecting additional revenue of €121m, meaning there is over a billion euro in that fund allegedly going towards improving our infrastructure to reduce reliance on carbon fuels going forward and support a just transition. Announcing Budget 2026, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said “this revenue will be ring-fenced to ensure that the carbon tax policy is progressive”. However, as I pointed in the preview episode, there are some real concerns about how much of that ring-fenced funding is meaningfully being spent on projects that will reduce our long-term reliance on fossil fuels. A significant amount of that tax revenue went straight back into the main exchequer between 2020 and 2023. The most recent C&AG report does not carry on that audit, but I’ve seen no indication that accountably for previous years was taken or transparency towards change. There can be a big difference between money allocated and money spent, but even in the carbon tax fund allocations for last year and this year, there are a number of social welfare payments included as Just Transition that have little or no connection to energy use or emissions. These are clearly part of the normal budget of the Department of Social Protection, and including them as Just Transition is a lazy attempt at Green-washing. The problem is that rising carbon taxes creates negative attitudes towards climate mitigation or environment policies, and without funding positive change that allows people to make other choices, we have the worst of both worlds.