Galway Bay fm newsroom – Clifden has been named as an area of inadequate sewerage treatment that could see Ireland prosecuted in the EU Court of Justice.
It follows a failure by the state to meet successive deadlines on EU regulations in 1998, 2000 and 2005.
The EU originally required built-up areas which discharge into sensitive environments to have adequate systems in place by 1998.
Facilities for all larges towns should have been upgraded by the year 2000, but this deadline was also missed – as was a further deadline for the upgrade of facilities serving smaller towns by 2005.
The EU now says that further failure to act within two months could lead to the case being referred to the EU Court of Justice where large-scale fines could be imposed.
In a list of what it describes as ‘agglomerations in breach’ of requirements, the European Commission includes Clifden – where upgrade works are underway – in a list of over two dozen locations nationwide.
According to the Irish Times, the state now has two months to address the situation – which will cost an estimated 2 billion euro to resolve.