A European report into Ireland’s “very poor” environment has been described as a “wakeup call” for the entire country. 

The State of Europe’s Environment criticised the Republic for the poor quality of its rivers, low rate of recycling and reliance on fossil fuels. 

It also noted that while there has been an increase in public transport in recent years, car dependency is still high. 

“The assessment of nature is very poor, with 85% of Ireland’s protected habitats and almost one third of protected species of flora and fauna having an unfavourable status,” it concluded.

On Newstalk Breakfast, Maynooth Emeritus Professor John Sweeney said the report “tells us what we’ve always known”. 

 “The image that we present in Ireland of being clean and green is really far from the truth,” he explained. 

“It’s interesting that we’re getting now some home truths coming from the European Environment Agency. 

“What it’s telling us is that we’re seeing a long-term decline in our water quality. 

“Going back to the 1980s, we had about 500 pristine sites in Ireland where you could drink the water and not feel in any way compromised. 

“Now we’ve got about 20 left.” 

A golden eagle in Glenveagh National Park, Donegal. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Professor Sweeney continued that while Ireland has made “great progress” economically, much of that has come at the cost of the environment and people’s quality of life. 

“We know that 1,500 people or so a year are dying from our air quality problems,” he said. 

“And we’ve made no significant progress in our greenhouse gas emissions.” 

Wind turbines in Galway. Picture by: Eamonn Farrell/ © RollingNews.ie.

Professor Sweeney added that overseas visitors value pristine nature and believes further negative reports could “threaten” Ireland’s image abroad. 

“We’ve seen our tourists, for example, who are questioned on why they came to Ireland by Bord Fáilte,” he said.  

“[There’s been a decline in people mentioning] our green and clean environment. 

“So, I think it’s a wakeup call for us; it’s a wakeup call to say that making plans is one thing but actually implementing them is something we’re very bad at. 

“And we’re now seeing the consequences in a general deterioration in environmental quality.” 

The endangered corncrake on Tory Island in County Donegal. Picture by: Alamy.com.

In the Programme for Government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised to cut carbon emissions by 51% on their 2018 levels by 2030. 

The Government also pledged to “mandate local authorities to expand and promote biodiversity”.

Main image: A supermarket trolley in a river in Glenariff, County Antrim. Picture by: Alamy.com.