Nationally the EPA found the wastewater discharged by 55% of treatment plants failed to meet EU standards.
As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency is accusing Uisce Éireann of poor management.
The inspections again identified poor operational practices and inadequate maintenance of wastewater infrastructure
EPA Programme Manager Noel Byrne says Tipp plants are up to scratch.
“There are 11 towns out there still discharging raw sewage – thankfully none of those are in Tipperary. Again, you have what we call directive compliance so our larger plants in the country – there’s a little short of 200 of those – and 13 of them are in Tipperary and all of the Tipperary towns met the standard which is positive.
“Ballina – Killaloe would have failed previously and that was brought into compliance in 2025 after the upgrade of the treatment plant so there’s a lot of good aspects to what’s happening in Tipperary.”
The Mullinahone wastewater treatment plant was the only blot on the copybook for Tipperary in the latest EPA report.
It’s Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2025 figures highlighted a number of issues across the country with more than half of the plants failing to meet the required standards.
Noel Byrne outlined to Tipp FM what needs to be done in Mullinahone.
“There’s many plants I suppose that need to be upgraded for a start, but what the EPA have done is they’ve identified 72 priority areas where improvements in wastewater treatment will bring the greatest benefits.
“And at Mullinahone what’s needed is improved phosphate treatment to reduce the phosphate levels that’s going out in the sewage discharge because if you don’t have that it can affect the receiving water effectively and you get increased nutrient growth and that will just deteriorate the quality of the winner.”
