Sligo Council Chief Executive defends county’s performance as ‘better than portrayed’ in EPA report

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

Sligo County Council Chief Executive Martin Lydon responded to the recent publication of an EPA report on the environmental enforcement performance of local authorities at a recent monthly meeting saying he believes the report doesn’t paint an accurate picture of Sligo’s performance.

Mr Lydon was responding to a motion from Cllr Ann Higgins which asked, “Following the recent publication of the EPA report on the environment enforcement performance of local authorities in 2024, can the Chief Executive outline what actions are now in place, or planned, to improve the performance of this Council.”

Addressing the meeting, Cllr Higgins said there were a number of national enforcement priorities for which Sligo did not reach the required threshold throughout the three-year cycle 2022-2024. These priorities were: Household & Commercial Waste; Producer Responsibility Initiatives (PRIs); Agriculture (Farm Yards and Farmland); Air Quality Monitoring & Data Use and Environmental Noise Directive.

The EPA report noted in its findings, “Issues were detected with lack of documentation, gaps in follow up actions and not enough routine inspections to monitor compliance.”

It also commented, “Sligo County Council stated that lack of resources has impacted on the performance by the Council of its statutory environmental protection functions. Sligo County Council also stated that they were taking steps to address the shortage of resources and a recruitment campaign was underway to fill vacant posts. Sligo County Council should continue to review the staff resources in its environmental section and ensure that this vital work is appropriately prioritised and that adequate resources are deployed to deliver its statutory functions in environmental protection.”

In reply to Cllr Higgins’ motion, Mr Lydon remarked, “I am confident we have the resources in place to deliver. I actually think our performance was better than portrayed in the report.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.