The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has included five food and drink facilities in its list of sites of national priority for poor environmental compliance and performance.

The companies include Dawn Farm Foods owned Arrow Group, Aurivo Dairy Ingredients, Kepak Athleague, North Cork Co-Op Creameries and chicken producer Western Brand Group.

The sites at each of these facilities have been placed on the national priority list, as they have been found to have failed to adhere to their licence conditions and, as a consequence, are posing a risk to the environment, says the EPA. The authority warned they will be held to account.

Waste water

Aurivo Dairy Ingredients in Co Roscommon has been placed on the list due to wastewater treatment and odour issues.

Many of the food and drink companies have been placed on the EPA list due to issues with their water treatment and its affect on local water quality. \ David Ruffles

Dawn Farm Foods-owned Arrow Group was non-compliant due to odour and noise coming from its facility in Kildare.

Kepak Athleague, Co Roscommon; Western Brand Group, Co Mayo; and North Cork Co-Op Creameries were also placed on the list due to water treatment issues.

The priority list came about as the EPA carried out over 1,049 inspections of licensed sites so far in 2022 and dealt with over 1,161 complaints relating to licensed sites.

Kepak has found its Athleague site placed on the EPA priority site. \ Philip Doyle

It said that on foot of this enforcement work, it has identified an “increasing number of sites of concern”, resulting in the number of sites on their national priority sites list increasing from eight in Q2 to 12 in Q3 2022.

The latest list is dominated by sites from the food and drink and waste sectors, with five of the 12 sites being from each of these sectors.

‘Incompatible’

Commenting on the publication of the list, EPA director Dr Tom Ryan said: “The emergence of facilities in the food and drinks sector on the EPA’s national priority sites list, due to their poor compliance and environmental performance records so far this year, is incompatible with the sustainable development goals and green image of the sector.

“Activities from these facilities are unnecessarily affecting the water quality of their local environment and of local people’s right to the enjoyment of a healthy environment.

"This trend has to be reversed and the EPA will hold any licensed operator polluting the environment or impacting public health to account."

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