Changes to the EPA licensing system signed into law

As previously reported in our October 2025 article, the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 (the Act) is a response to industry stakeholders unhappy with delays in the EPA licensing process, in particular where minor changes to a licence resulted in the need for a full blown licence review process to take place. While the Act has been signed into law, a commencement order, or orders, will be required to bring its provisions into operation.  

The substance of the Act is largely unchanged from what was first proposed in August 2025, although a number of new provisions were added during the Dáil Committee Stage which are addressed below.

Key Elements

The key provisions of the Act are as follows:

1. Timelines

The Act provides the Minister with the power to set time limits within which the EPA must “endeavour” to make its decision on licence applications and licence reviews. These time limits are yet to be prescribed and will be included in separate regulations. Whether this will in fact lead to faster processing times remains to be seen.

2. Derogations from EIA in emergency and exceptional circumstances

The Act provides for exemptions from the requirement to carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for civil emergency, defence of the State or exceptional circumstances. Unhelpfully, no definition of “exceptional circumstances” has been included in the Act.

3. Limited licence reviews for limited changes

The Act introduces a new form of limited licence review (known as “review of part of licence”) where only minor changes are proposed. This can only be availed of where no EIA is required and where there is no “substantial change”. “Substantial change” is defined as “a change in the nature or functioning, or an extension, of an installation or combustion plant, waste incineration plant or waste co-incineration plant which may have significant adverse effects on human health or the environment.”

4. Green procurement guidance

The Act amends the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 and provides for the designation of a public body for the purpose of preparing green procurement guidance and for public bodies to report on an annual basis in accordance with that guidance. The Act also allows the Minister to pay into the circular economy fund any income arising from extended producer responsibility schemes established under the Single Use Plastics Directive (i.e. Repak).

The following provisions were also inserted at Dáil Committee Stage:

5. EPA director general

An update to the appointment and selection processes for the director general and directors of the EPA.

6. Wider powers of injunction

Amendment to section 99H of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (as amended) (the EPA Act) to widen the scope of injunctive powers - previously this section could only be utilised to prevent an ongoing and actual breach of a licensed activity, but the wording has now been updated to include the past tense and where future breach is likely to occur.

7. Litter offences

Amendment to the Litter Pollution Act 1997 to remove more serious convictions “on indictment” for littering offences and instead focusing on “on the spot” fines or summary prosecution.

While the Act is a welcome development, it remains to be seen whether EPA licence and licence review processing timelines will improve. Under the new sections 40B and 90B of the EPA Act, any timelines set by ministerial regulation will not be legally binding. Instead, the requirement is that the EPA “must endeavour” to comply with them. Nonetheless, it will be helpful for both the EPA and applicants to have more definite timelines to work to - although these will need to be realistic given the significant workloads and challenges currently faced by the EPA.

The clearer benefit for industry stakeholders is the introduction of the more limited form of licence review, which will hopefully result in less risk to project or operational delays where licences need to be amended and updated to reflect developments at a site.

For more information in relation to this topic, please contact Alison Fanagan, Consultant, Chris Stynes, Senior Associate, David Bourke, Solicitor, Rachel Kemp, Senior Practice Development Lawyer or any member of the Environmental & Planning team. 

Date published: 25 March 2026