The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given Ireland two weeks to prove it has plans in place to remedy the country’s breaches of European Union directives on wastewater, drinking water and dangerous substances. The ECJ recently found Ireland guilty of failing to provide secondary treatment of sewage at six sites and has threatened to levy fines that could run into the millions of euros a year, according to a report by UK-based Environmental Data Interactive (www.edie.net)
So far, Ireland has been ordered to pay the costs of the case, in which it was found to be in breach of the 1991 Urban Wastewater Directive. Ireland’s environment minister John Gormley said he was “disappointed” that “mainly technical or legal difficulties” had let the case get so far, though he added that steps were already being taken to correct the situation, according to the report by Environmental Data Interactive.
