General Felling Licence application from Coillte in respect of lands at Garvagh Glebe, Co Leitrim – Peatslides and Windfarms

Internal review AAIE/23/227

Result of the internal review of this decision

As you will be aware from the acknowledgement of your request for an internal review, I was assigned to review your request. I made a decision on your review request on 25/04/2023. Having reviewed this request, and having identified 8 records which relate to it, I have decided that you should be granted access to all of the records, and I annul the original decision accordingly.

Notes on landslide

EIA Reports in three mandatory categories for assessment

AIE Request, 26/5/23

Under the AIE Regs to request the following:

A full environmental impact assessment report is needed to determine whether certain works listed can proceed. Current thresholds where these reports are mandatory are

1) 4km for hedgerow removal
2) 50ha for land drainage works

3) 50ha for taking uncultivated/semi-natural land into intensive use

Please provide EIA reports as submitted to DAFM for 2021, 2022 and 2023 YTD in each of the three categories

For context, please note the following article

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/review-begins-of-hedgerow-removal-and-land-drainage-rules-766973

Failure of EPA’s financial liability instruments

OEE AIE 2023 15

Responses to AIE

1. Any materials, protocols and/or references considered by the EPA when assessing the suitability of financial instruments such as Insurance policies in place of sureties and/or cash bonds when deciding on appropriate provision for licenced facilities in relation to CRAMP and ELRA.

All EPA guidance documents are available at Financial provision for environmental liabilities | Environmental Protection Agency (epa.ie). The 2015 guidance document Guidance on Financial Provision for Environmental Liabilities is probably most relevant to the request.


2. List of all facilities in the State upon which the EPA has made calls on financial provision in respect of CRAMP and/or ELRA in respect of licenced facilities in the period 1 January 2010 to date.


The EPA has made no calls on financial provision put in place by licensees in the period January 2010 to date.


3. In respect of No. 2, please indicate the nature of the call made i.e. what type of financial instrument did the EPA have recourse to.

Not applicable because the EPA has made no calls on financial provision put in place by licensees in the period January 2010 to date.


4. In respect of any Insurance policies which the EPA have had recourse to under No. 3 above, please indicate any instances in which a call was made in respect of an Insurance policy and same was not met by the Insurer concerned.


Not applicable because the EPA has made no calls on financial provision put in place by licensees in the period January 2010 to date.


5. Any analysis or reports conducted by or on behalf of the EPA on the risk of failure of financial liability instruments when called upon.”

Not applicable because the EPA has made no calls on financial provision put in place by licensees in the period January 2010 to date.

Talbotsinch Water Abstraction: River Nore SAC, Water Abstraction and the Kilkenny Potato Farm

AIE request AIE-040-2023

Under the AIE Regs to request any records in relation to NPWS enforcement actions / inspections / inspectors site notes / related correspondence for water abstraction within SACs for potato farming / processing in Kilkenny 

For the purposes of this AIE please consider the years 2020 to 2023 

Consent Form

Environmental Flow Assessments for Irish Rivers

The location of abstraction is within the River Barrow and River Nore SAC (002162) and the River Nore SPA (004233). The qualifying interests of these sites (listed in Appendix I) include a number of aquatic habitats and species.

Activity will abstract water from river


Activity will cause noise.

Placement of pipe and equipment will result in minor level of human disturbance at river edge


Placement of pipe in water may impact on riparian vegetation or cause introduction of invasive species.


Abstraction can result in “bycatch” of aquatic organisms caught in intake pipe, and in particular salmon fry and lamprey juveniles.

Screening for Appropriate Assessment – Screening matrix and Finding of No Significant Effects matrix

Conclusion: Likely significant effects cannot be ruled out. Potentially significant effects found in relation to Salmon, Sea, Brook and River Lamprey (subject to consultation with IFI), floating river vegetation, Crayfish, Otter on the River Barrow and River Nore SAC and Kingfisher on the River Nore SPA. Appropriate Assessment is required.

Kealanine Landfill – Kealanine, Co. Cork (CoA H0089-01)

AIE request AIE-23-11

The only correspondence with the EPA is the submission of the annual AER. The Kealanine AER 2021 was submitted to the EPA on 05/04/22 and I have attached a copy for convenience. The AER 2022 is currently being finalised and will be submitted shortly

This is the fourth report to be submitted by the Council to the Agency since the Certificate of Authorisation (CoA H0089-01) was granted.

This report does not appear to have been released on EPA website

https://epawebapp.epa.ie/terminalfour/HLF/HLF-view.jsp?regno=H0089-01

The landfill site is located at Kealanine (NGR 97620 55014) approximately 5 km east south east of Glengarriff and 7 km north northwest of Bantry. The site is located approximately 1.5 km off the N71 (Bantry to Castletownbere road) via a local road

The waste deposition ceased completely in November 1997

ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 2021

Minutes of EPA Liaison Groups, Annual Reports and DAFM/EPA Data Sharing Agreement

OEA AIE 2023 03

Minutes and agendas of meetings for 2022 and 2023 YTD for the following committees:
a. DAHG (NPWS) / EPA Liaison Group
i. There were no meetings under the MOU between EPA/NPWS during 2022, 2023 to date.
b. OPW / EPA Liaison Group
i. There were no meetings under the MOU between EPA/OPW during 2022, 2023 to date.
c. DAFM / EPA Liaison Group
i. There were no meetings under the MOU between EPA/DAFM during 2022, 2023 to date.

Copies of all data sharing agreements agreed as between EPA and the three other public bodies
a. There is no formal EPA/OPW data sharing agreement, data are shared on request
b. There is no formal EPA/DAHG data sharing agreement; there is a joint work programme for sampling saltmarsh communities for WFD, the data from which are shared.
c. A formal data sharing agreement between EPA/DAFM is attached.

EPA: Various records provided under AIE, including EPA Advisory Committee meeting minutes, Committee End of Term Report, Fingal CoCo waste derogations, and EPA request to Dept for additional drinking water enforcement powers

OCCS AIE 2023 02

AIE Grant Letter

7th meeting of the 8th EPA Advisory Committee was held on Friday 28th October 2022

8th meeting of the 8th EPA Advisory Committee was held on Wednesday 11th January 2023

Report of the 7th Advisory Committee of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment


Licence Register No.: W0183-01
Licensee: Starrus Eco Holdings Ltd
Facility: Millennium Business Park, Grange, Ballycoolin, Dublin 11

Licence Register No.: W0261-02
Licensee: Starrus Eco Holdings Ltd
Facility: Cappagh Road, Finglas, Dublin 11

Letter from EPA CEO to Graham Doyle, Secretary General, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Subject: Enforcement Powers under the Drinking Water Regulations (S.I. 122 of 2014, as amended)

Audit Report for: EPA Headquarters
Surveillance Audit – Management System Certification