ENVIRONMENT:DOMESTIC WATER charges must be introduced if Ireland is to meet its EU commitments on water quality and conservation, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said.

At the current rate of progress, Ireland is unlikely to meet the water framework directive goals for 2015, according to the OECD Environmental Performance Review of Ireland, published yesterday. The OECD said the State was already five years late in implementing the urban waste water directive, which relates to sewage treatment plants, and would not be in full compliance with this directive until 2011.

It notes that in 2006 the number of procedures brought by the European Commission against Ireland for infringing EU environmental directives was among the highest of any member state.

Ireland had made substantial progress since the last review in 2000, the OECD said, but there were several “environmental health impacts” which remained of concern, including heavy metal contamination of drinking water, air pollution from traffic and heating in urban areas, and exposure to naturally occurring radon.

Municipal waste collection was “fragmented” and not adequately regulated, and the State was far from achieving the 2013 target of diverting 50 per cent of household waste from landfill.

Speaking at the publication of the report, OECD secretary general Angel Gurría urged the Government to maintain its commitment to environmental progress despite the recession.