There are currently around 900 industrial and waste licences issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Ireland. These licences regulate large-scale installations and facilities across diverse sectors, including energy, pharmaceuticals, waste management, and cement production.
In response to feedback from industry stakeholders and those affected by EPA licensing regimes, the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 (the Bill) was developed. The Bill aims to streamline the systems governing industrial emissions, integrated pollution control, and waste licensing.
The Bill confers on the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (the Minister) the power to prescribe fixed time limits within which licence decisions by the EPA must be made. It also proposes giving the EPA more options to efficiently regulate lower-risk activities and minor licence changes. A further aim of the Bill is to ensure that appropriate and proportionate environmental protections remain firmly in place. To attain these goals, the Bill proposes changes to the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (the EPA Act) and the Waste Management Act (the 1996 Act). Amendments to the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 are being proposed in the Bill. These focus on green public procurement and include a provision allowing income from certain extended producer responsibility schemes to be paid into the circular economy fund
- Definite timeframes for licence decisions
Under the current licensing regimes, decisions on licence applications may take up to two years. Currently, the EPA is not subject to any time limits within which it must make such decisions. One of the main aims of the Bill is to provide for a power to set definite time limits for licence decisions. Time limits for decisions had been set out in the General Scheme of the Bill but have been removed from the Bill itself. These time limits are now to be set in regulations to be made by the Minister once the Bill comes into force. Setting these time limits in regulations will make it easier to amend them as needed.
- Derogations from EIA in emergency and exceptional circumstances
The Bill provides for exemptions from the requirements of Directive 2011/92/EU (the EIA Directive) and the obligations to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in certain emergency or exceptional circumstances. These provisions transpose article 1(3) and article 2(4) of the EIA Directive which provide that Member States may exempt certain projects from the EIA Directive which serve national defence purposes or in exceptional circumstances. The Bill proposes the insertion of a new section 88C (exemption for civil emergency or defence) and new section 88D (exemption in exceptional circumstances) into the EPA Act. Section 88D will allow applicants to apply to the EPA in exceptional circumstances for an exemption before applying for a licence. The EPA is obliged to ensure that the objectives of the EIA Directive will be achieved by other means. Similar amendments are proposed to the 1996 Act. During the Dáil debates on the Bill, the lack of clarity as to what constitutes “exceptional circumstances” was raised. It remains to be seen whether a definition of this term will be introduced as the Bill progresses through the legislative process.
- Limited licence reviews for limited changes
One of the criticisms levelled at the current licensing regime is that even where minor changes are proposed to an installation, a full licence review is required. The Bill proposes partial licence reviews in certain circumstances where no EIA is required and the change in activity does not constitute a ‘substantial change’ (as defined in the EIA Directive).
- Introduction of general binding rules for lower-risk activities
The General Scheme of the Bill proposed to insert a new section 89A into the EPA Act providing for a power to prescribe “General Binding Rules”. These rules would have applied to certain categories of applicants for lower-risk activities and relieved them of the need to seek a licence, as occurs under the licencing regime in the UK.The Bill, however, does not contain any mention of these “General Binding Rules.”
Conclusion
It is disappointing that the provisions which would have exempted certain minor activities from the licensing regime appear to have been dropped from the text of the Bill. The legislation will still be welcomed by industry, however, as it will bring certainty to timelines for other EPA licence process including the grant of new licenses, transfers, reviews and technical amendments. This has been something that industry bodies have been seeking for a very long time.
What’s next?
The General Scheme of the Bill was approved by the Government on 11 June 2024 with the text of the Bill being published on 18 August 2025. The Bill passed Second Stage in the Dáil on 30 September 2025 and is due to begin Committee Stage in the Dáil shortly.
For more information in relation to this topic, please contact Alan Roberts, Partner, Alison Fanagan, Consultant, Rachel Kemp, Senior Knowledge Lawyer or any member of ALG's Environment & Planning team.
