The Environment Protection Agency's, EPA, recent state of the environment report, Ireland's Environment 2004, concludes that our environment remains of generally good quality and that, while the potential pressures on the environment are growing, the means to combat them are keeping pace through a widening range of laws and policies. Ireland fully supports EU co-ordinated efforts for environmental protection and maintains an intensive programme in relation to the transposition and implementation of EU environmental legislation. Some 200 items of EU environmental legislation, including more than 140 directives, have by now been transposed. The European Commission published its Fifth Annual Survey on the Implementation and Enforcement of Community Environmental Law 2003 in July 2004. The report includes a "scoreboard" showing the performance of member states under three headings, relating to non-transposition, non-conformity and failure to implement derived or secondary obligations. Of the then 15 member states Ireland was ranked sixth best in relation to transposition, eighth in relation to conformity and 15th in relation to the implementation of derived or secondary obligations. A high priority is being given to addressing the outstanding issues in relation to designations for nature conservation and for prevention of pollution from nitrates, in consultation with relevant stakeholders. My Department, through the local authorities and the EPA, continues to work towards maintaining a high level of environmental protection for Ireland. To strengthen implementation structures, the Office of Environmental Enforcement, OEE, has been recently established. In addition to a mandate to deliver enhanced environmental compliance through enforcement of EPA licences issued to waste, industrial and other activities, the OEE exercises a supervisory role in respect of the environmental protection activities of local authorities.
