The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has welcomed “good work” on county councils’ behalf in “tackling the sale and distribution of unapproved solid fuels” in 2024.

However, checks at the premises of retailers and producers of solid fuels turned up an “an increasing trend of non-compliances” last year in comparison with previous years, the EPA reported last week.

“Enforcement activity increased, with more multi-agency inspections and follow-ups, roadside checks and sample analysis,” the agency stated.

The rising trend of non-compliant solid fuels was driven in particular by “unregistered wood producers and incorrectly labelled fuels”, as the EPA stated that there is a need to ramp up enforcement action.

The local authority environmental enforcement performance report for 2024 gave 26 county councils a favourable rating on their implementation of solid fuel inspections last year, up from 19 authorities in the year before.

Checkpoints in Kerry

The report gave Kerry County Council’s efforts to put into action solid fuel regulations as an example of an area where compliance has improved air quality.

It said that Kerry put a “comprehensive enforcement and monitoring programme” in response to “local air quality concerns” and that this programme resulted in a total of 78 inspections of solid fuel premises across the county last year.

Checkpoints put in place with the assistance of An Garda Síochána monitored the movement of unapproved solid fuels by stopping hauliers.

The EPA stated that the levels of compliance found during these checks were “satisfactory”.

The sale of turf in public places was also investigated and stopped.

“A small number of outlets” were found to be selling fuels supplied by producers not listed on the EPA’s solid fuel register, which resulted in the agency following up with these businesses to register.

The council also monitored online and print advertisements for unapproved fuel sales and took enforcement action, which included contacting publishers and removing non-compliant advertisements.

As the issue of air quality “remained a concern” in the Tralee area, Kerry County Council put out “mobile patrols of residential areas to monitor the door-to-door sale and supply of solid fuels”.