Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

Country fiche: Ireland(draft version 8 October 2018)

Date of evaluation: September 2018

SummaryOverall information governance

Ireland has a centralized approach for dissemination of environmental data. The portal ‘Irish environment’ (www.epa.ie) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the sole portal for all environmental information. For chemicals most of the information and monitoring data is referenced from the main portal but found on a separate portal (www.hsa.ie ) . The Irish INSPIRE portal (www.geoportal.ie) is not integrated into the main environmental portal, nor are the data linked to it.

Overall findings including on content, sharing and usability

In the search for content, most information was found. In general, information on quality control, data compliant with the INSPIRE directive and historical data (www.geoportal.ie) were missing. Furthermore, information on chemicals could not always be found. The sharing and usability criteria were generally met.

As a result of the high scoring of the individual sections, the overall rating is very high and makes Ireland a good practice for active dissemination of environmental information.

Guidance

Overall the environmental information systems are already advanced, but improvements could be made to the governance structure to improve the findability of the content related criteria, such as the monitoring data according to INSPIRE directive and historical data. This could be done by linking or integrating the INSPIRE portal in the EPA portal. A second step would be to reduce the complexity of the portal and enhance the usability. This could be done by being more consistent in the items that are displayed in the various sections of the portal.

IntroductionThis country fiche is a product of a project1 financed by the European Commission carried out mainly in 2018 with the objective to assess the maturity of active dissemination of environmental information in EU Member States. The examination and evaluation of active dissemination was by reference to a set of precise EU environmental legislative and policy frameworks. These have high overall importance and are representative, but they are not the totality of what the EU environmental acquis covers. It is not excluded that, in the Member State, levels of active dissemination will be different outside of the specific areas examined.

Moreover, the project aims to retrieve information on environmental data spread out in different locations and systems and to explore ways to collect this data in the most efficient manner. Targeted collection of environmental data through active dissemination could lower the administrative reporting burden in the Member States. Currently, the legal obligation to report and monitor throughout the full environmental domain shows a scattered landscape of different environment information systems targeted at specific regulatory monitoring and reporting obligations.

As a starting point, the situation for every Member State was analysed and summarised in a country fiche in which the current situation (2018 or earlier) on governance, content, sharing and usability performance of the national environmental systems are described. The country fiches are linked to the 1 ‘Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting

at EU level’ under Framework Contract No 07.0203/2017/761039/SER/ENV.E.4 of Directorate General for Environment

1

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

preparation of the guidance document for good practices for national environmental information systems. For more information on the project and the methodology, see the final paragraph of the country fiche and the project webpage (www.eis-data.eu ) 2 .

Governance By ‘governance’ we mean the structure that Member States have put in place for active dissemination of information and data on the environment. Good governance means that Member States actively disseminate environmental data and information in an (easy) accessible manner for all and the system is well-maintained and updated as frequently as feasible. In the Governance part we look into the structure and refer to INSPIRE, and the analyses is made based on the findings in the content part of the evaluation.

Ireland has a centralized approach for dissemination of environmental data. The portal ‘Irish environment’ (www.epa.ie) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the sole portal for all environmental information. From this portal all information and data concerning the six main policy domains is accessible. The portal links to other information sources as well, but most of the searched for content was found on the site itself. Only for chemicals most of the information and monitoring data is found on the portal www.hsa.ie, but this was accessible via the main portal. The EPA portal is a good example of a national environmental portal through which all environmental data and information is accessible.

INSPIREThe environmental data found on the portal is not provided according to INSPIRE specifications, although mention of INSPIRE is made in the metadata. Ireland has a separate INSPIRE portal: www.geoportal.ie. The INSPIRE portal is not integrated or linked to the main environmental portal. This is a missed opportunity. To provide better access to all environmental data, the EPA map could be better linked with the Irish geoportal.

Criterion Rating

Remarks

2 During the duration of the project.

2

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

1.1 How is the governance of dissemination of environmental data and information arranged? Ireland has a interlinked system with the portal of

the EPA as central access point.

1.2 What is the link with INSPIRE and the INSPIRE portal In most cases the monitoring data is provided

INSPIRE-proof via the EIS, but there is not a link between the national environmental portal and the INSPIRE portal

ContentThe criteria on content indicate the ease of finding environmental data and information within a Member State. We searched in the six main environmental domains, Air, Biodiversity, Water, Chemicals, Industrial Emissions and Waste and restricted the search to one specific Directive as indicated above the tables. If the answer ‘not found’ is given it does not necessarily mean the information is not there, but it means we could not find it using the methodology set out in documents available on www.eis-data.eu.

General overview

On the EPA portal or via this portal information and data on all domains was found. The items that were generally not found or not easily found was information on quality control, data provided according to the INSPIRE directive and historical data. For the latter two the INSPIRE portal (www.geoportal.ie) provides data according to the INSPIRE directive and historical data, but the INSPIRE portal is not directly linked to the main environmental portal. Furthermore, information on chemicals could not always be found. The EPA site contains only basic information on this domain, but links through to the portal www.hsa.ie and to the European site www.echa.europe.eu, but on these sites no monitoring data was found. The odd one out was the legal base for the habitat directive, that was not found.

Content criteria related to State of the Environmental report and permits/licenses

Criterion Rating

Remarks

2.0 Are reports on state of the Environment provided? The report can be downloaded, read as ebook or

graphs can be viewed. Easily found on main environmental portal via menu. It is found at www.epa.ie

2.1 Is information on permits and licenses available? The Local Authority Waste Facility Register was

found. It was easily found via main environmental portal via menu, available in different versions, full report, ebook or summary. facilityregister.nwcpo.ie

easily found (within 5 clicks); difficult to find (more than 5 clicks); not found

3

Search protocol

First search main environmental portal (and if relevant linked portals) via menu and keyword search

If not found, next search other relevant portals in longlist via menu and keyword search If not found, finally perform keyword search in general search engine

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

Content criteria related to legislation

For the domain of Air, the following legislation is selected: Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of air quality.

Air Rating Remarks

2.2 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? The directive is available as download. It was

found in the main environmental portal via menu. It was found at http://www.epa.ie/ .

2.3 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? Air quality plans of Dublin area are found. It was

found on the website of Dublin city centre via the EPA site with use of the menu. It was found at www.dublincity.ie .

2.4 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for air quality data (spatial or statistical) is performed.

Actual air quality data of all towns in Ireland is found. It was found on the main environmental portal via the menu. It was found at www.epa.ie .

2.5 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? An air quality impact assessment was found. It

was not easy to find via the menu. But it was found via keyword search on the main environmental site.www.epa.ie .

2.6 Are the monitoring data found and provided according to the INSPIRE directive? INSPIRE theme Environmental monitoring

facilities is named in metadata. It was found at gis.epa.ie .

2.7 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Historical data is available in reports. Found in

main environmental portal via menu. It was found at www.epa.ie.

2.8 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? Metadata is easily found, and it is downloadable

in xml. It was found at gis.epa.ie.

2.9 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Not found. No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.4.

easily found (within 5 clicks); difficult to find (more than 5 clicks); not found

For the domain of Biodiversity, the following legislation is selected: Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of habitats.

Biodiversity Rating Remarks

2.10 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? Links to European Birds and Natural Habitats

directive are easily found in main portal via keyword search. It was found at www.epa.ie .

4

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

2.11 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? Biodiversity action plans were easily found on the

main environmental portal via menu. It was found at www.epa.ie.

2.12 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for habitat data (spatial or statistical) is performed.

A map of habitats is found via a link on the main environmental portal. It was easily found via the menu at maps.biodiversityireland.ie .

2.13 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? A report on Sectoral Impacts on Biodiversity and

Ecosystem Services was found on the main environmental portal. It was not easy to find, it was found via keyword search at www.epa.ie .

2.14 Are the monitoring data found

provided according to the INSPIRE directive?

In the metadata of the monitoring data found in 2.12 no reference is made to relevant INSPIRE themes.

2.15 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? There is no historical data available of the

monitoring data found in 2.12.

2.16 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? Metadata is found for the monitoring data found in

2.12, but not harvestable. It was found at maps.biodiversityireland.ie .

2.17 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Quality control is indicated for the monitoring data found in 2.12. It is mentioned what kind of test are done, but there is not direct access to the results. It was found at maps.biodiversityireland.ie .

For the domain of Water, the following legislation is selected: Water frame directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of water quality data of WFD water bodies. All items were found except for the indication of quality control in relation to the found monitoring data.

Water Rating Remarks

2.18 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? Text of directive is easily found via main

environmental portal through menu search. www.epa.ie .

2.19 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? EU water framework directive Irish monitoring

programme was easily found on the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie.

2.20 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for water quality data of WFD water bodies (spatial or statistical) is performed.

Data on water quality of water bodies was easily found on the main environmental portal via menu www.catchments.ie.

2.21 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation Impact Assessment Of Highway Drainage On

Surface Water Quality was easily found on the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie.

5

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

provided?

2.22 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? In the metadata of the monitoring data found in

2.20 reference is made to INSPIRE theme Hydrography. It was found at www.catchments.ie .

2.23 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Historical data is found for the monitoring data

found in 2.20. It was found at www.catchments.ie .

2.24 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? Metadata is found for the monitoring data found in

2.20, but not harvestable (not downloadable in XML). It was found at www.catchments.ie.

2.25 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Quality control is indicated for the monitoring data found in 2.20. It is mentioned what kind of test are done, but there is not direct access to the results. It was found at www.catchments.ie .

For the domain of Chemicals, the following legislation is selected: Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 – REACH of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and establishing a European Chemicals Agency. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data on presence of chemicals in soil or water.

Chemicals Rating Remarks

2.26 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? Text of directive is easily found via main

environmental portal through menu search at echa.europa.eu.

2.27 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided?

Information on Roles and duty concerning REACH was easily found via the main environmental portal on the portal of the Health and Safety Agency via menu. It was found at www.hsa.ie.

2.28 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for presence of chemicals in soil or water (spatial or statistical) is performed.

Monitoring data of chemicals in water (water quality data) is easily found on the main environmental portal via menu. It was found at gis.epa.ie .

2.29 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? A report on Potential radiological impact on Ireland of

postulated severe accidents at Sellafield was found on the main portal. It was difficult to find and was finally found via keyword search at www.epa.ie .

2.30 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? In the metadata of the monitoring data found in 2.28

reference is made to INSPIRE theme Hydrography. It was found at gis.epa.ie .

2.31 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Historical data of the monitoring data found in 2.28 is

easily found at gis.epa.ie.

6

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

2.32 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? Metadata for monitoring data found in 2.28 is

accessible and harvestable. It was found at gis.epa.ie .

2.33 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

Not found. No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.28.

For the domain of Industrial emissions, the following legislation is selected: Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control and the Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of industrial emissions in air.

Industrial emissions Rating Remarks

2.34 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? The text of the directive was difficult to find due to

unclear structure of the main environmental portal, but it was found via menu at www.epa.ie .

2.35 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided? Regulations on industrial emissions issued by EPA were

easily found via the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie.

2.36 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for data on industrial emissions in air (spatial or statistical) is performed.

Data on air emissions was easily found via the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie.

2.37 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? National report on PRTR for Ireland summarising the

information and data validated by the EPA and reported to Europe under the E-PRTR Regulations for the year 2013. Was easily found via the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie.

2.38 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? No reference is made to an INSPIRE theme related to

the monitoring data found in 2.36.

2.39 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Historical data is found related to the monitoring data

found in 2.36 at www.epa.ie as key environmental indicators for Ireland. The current environmental status/trend of each indicator is also given, where appropriate.

2.40 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? No metadata related to the monitoring data found in

2.36 is found.

2.41 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, No indication of quality control related to the

monitoring data found in 2.36 is found.

7

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

For the domain of Waste, the following legislation is selected: Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste. The criteria below are searched for in relation to this directive. For the search for monitoring data we focussed on data of amount of waste or landfill sites (spatial/statistical).

Criterion Rating Remarks

2.42 Are links to European legal base of this legislation provided? The text of the legislation is easily found at the main

environmental portal via the menu. It was found at www.epa.ie .

2.43 Are links to national policies, plans, programs related to environment linked to this legislation provided?

Waste management regulations were easily found via the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie

2.44 Are monitoring data (or summaries thereof) connected to this legislation provided? A search for data on produced waste or landfills (spatial or statistical) is performed.

Data on national waste was easily found via the main environmental portal via menu at www.epa.ie .

2.45 Are environmental impact studies connected to the legislation provided? The report on Environmental impact assessment on

landfill was found on the main environmental portal. It was not easy to be found and it was finally found via keyword search. It was found at www.epa.ie .

2.46 Are the monitoring data found in provided according to the INSPIRE directive? No reference to INSPIRE themes made for the

monitoring data found in 2.44.

2.47 Are historical datasets available of the monitoring data found? Historical data related to the monitoring data found in

2.44 on national waste was easily found on the main environmental portal via menu www.epa.ie.

2.48 Is metadata of the monitoring data found accessible and harvestable? No metadata related to the monitoring data found in

2.44 is found. Only some statistics found for example see the report ''waste packaging statistics for Ireland'' at www.epa.ie.

2.49 Is there an indication of quality control (incl. accuracy, consistency, coherence, completeness, schema validation) given for the monitoring data found?

No indication of quality control related to the monitoring data found in 2.44 is found.

8

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

SharingThe criteria on sharing indicate the ease with which data and information provided by an environmental portal can be shared. Users can be persons to look up information and/or view and download the data on a portal, but it can also mean automatic extraction of data and information by harvesting.

For the portal www.catchments.ie, a number of issues regarding sharing is evaluated. On this portal most of the sharing criteria were met. There is a data and mapping component integrated in the portal, with possibilities to view and download the data. Information on the license for re-use is available, access to registers is open and environmental data is freely available. Only communication via the portal is possible with the administrator/owner, but not with other users.

Criterion Rating Remarks

3.1 Is it possible to view the data? Yes, e.g. see at www.catchments.ie

3.2 Is it possible to download the data in most commonly used file formats? Yes, e.g. see at www.catchments.ie

3.3 What communication possibilities are available? Only communication possible with

administrator/owner, not with other users

3.4 Is the license to re-use data published? Yes e.g. at metadata of datasets at Yes, e.g. see

at www.catchments.ie . Reference to creative commons licence

3.5 Is access to registers or lists open? (catalogues, thesaurus, vocabularies) Yes, registers are open

3.6 Is environmental data freely available (free of charge)?  Yes, environmental data is freely available, no

conditions apply

UsabilityThe criteria regarding the usability indicate the ease of use by consumers. For the main environmental portal www.epa.ie the following issues regarding usability are evaluated.

The usability of the EPA portal is very high. Indicators are used and facilities to support the user such as presence of Help-functionality, website search functionality, sitemap, clear menu/table of contents are all provided. The portal is available in English and Gaelic language and preferences for viewing can be set. The overall experience of the site is very good and so is the appearance. The complexity of the portal is rated as moderate, since it was sometimes hard to find items back, because for some domains the information was found in the enforcement section and for others in the monitoring section. The items displayed in those sections varied, (i.e. no nature or biodiversity section in enforcement section) and specifically in the section on Irelands Environment, links were also provided at a section at the right-hand site of the screen that could not be found through the main menu.

When searching for the content 47% of all retrieved content was found by using the menu options of the portal. Furthermore 37 of the 50 searches were found (76%). Of the items that were found 86% were found easily (within 5 clicks).

9

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

The usability is very good but could be slightly improved by reducing the complexity of the portal by being consistent in the items that are displayed in the various sections.

Criterion Rating Remarks

4.1 Are environmental indicators used? Yes, see epa.ie

4.2 Are facilities to support the user provided? Yes, see home page in header: Menu, Keyword

search, FAQ, site map.

4.3 Are alternatives for visually and hearing impaired users available? Only viewing preferences can be set.

4.4 Is the portal multi-lingual? Portal is available in Official and local language (English and Gaelic)

4.5 How was your overall experience? The overall experience of the site is very good.

4.6 How do you judge the appearance of the site The overall appearance of the site is very good

4.7 What is your impression of the complexity of the site Sometimes hard to find things back. Sometimes

extra menu options at the site, not accessible via main menu.

4.8 Percentage of criteria of content found by using the menu 34-66%

4.9 Percentage of criteria of content found >66% (37 out of50)

4.10 Percentage Criteria of content found easily if found >66%

GuidanceAs a result of the high scoring of the individual sections the overall rating is very high and makes Ireland a good practice for active dissemination of environmental information. Small improvements can be made.

Overall the environmental information systems are already advanced but small improvements could be made to the governance structure to improve the findability of the content related criteria, such as the monitoring data according to INSPIRE directive and historical data. This could be done by linking or integrating the INSPIRE portal in the EPA portal. A second step would be to reduce the complexity of the portal and enhance the usability. This could be done by being more consistent in the items that are displayed in the various sections of the portal. Improve the governance structure would also improve the findability of the content related criteria, such as the monitoring data according to INSPIRE directive and historical data. Another recommendation is to provide a possibility to communicate with other users.

10

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

LonglistThese are the EIS’s that were found for Ireland during the first inventory. In the first column is indicated which column we encountered during the evaluation.

√ Portal Description URL Owner Administrator√ Ireland's Environment Environmental Data portal http://www.epa.ie/

irelandsenvironment/Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

√ Ireland (EPA) Geoportal This geoportal is designed to make data about the environment easier to find, browse and understand

http://gis.epa.ie/ Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

data.gov.ie Open data portal https://data.gov.ie/dataNational Biodiversity Data Centre

http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/ National Biodiversity Data Centre

Compass Informatics

DAFM - Geoportal geospatial information https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/forestservicegeneralinformation/foreststatisticsandmapping/forestmapviewer/geoportal/

Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine

Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine

Beaches.ie National portal for information about beaches

https://www.beaches.ie/

√ Catchments.ie Portal for Ireland's catchments, primarily for Citizen Science

https://www.catchments.ie/ Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Data Exchange Network

https://www.edenireland.ie/

√ Health and Safety Authority

Portal to support healthy, safe and productive lives (incl. chemicals regulations)

https://www.hsa.ie/ Health and Safety Authority

Health and Safety Authority

√ Ireland's INSPIRE Geoportal

Shared government resource that provides access to a network of spatial data

https://www.geoportal.ie/geoportal/catalog/main/home.page

Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government (DHPCLG) and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi)

Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government (DHPCLG) and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi)

√ Local Authority Waste Facility Register

Resource to search on full or partial Waste Facility Permit / Certificate of Registration reference numbers, applicant name or address, List of Waste code or issuing local authority.

http://facilityregister.nwcpo.ie/ Environmental Protection Agency

National Waste Collection Permit Office

√ Dublin City Council The site gives access to http://www.dublincity.ie/ Dublin City Council Dublin City Council

11

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

website Dublin City Council’s services

√ Mapping Ireland’s Wildlife

a national portal that compiles biodiversity data from multiple sources and makes it freely available on-line

https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/ National Biodiversity Data Centre

Compass Informatics

√ ECHA European Chemicals Agency

Portal for regulations and information about chemicals

https://echa.europa.eu ECHA ECHA

12

Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level

Reference to project and methodologyThe evaluation was carried out by at least two members of the project team for ‘Promotion of best practices for national environmental information systems and tools for data harvesting at EU level’. Differences between the results of both evaluations are discussed and checked and this country fiche visualises the results. For background information and references regarding the method we refer to the guidance document available at www.eis-data.eu.

DisclaimerThis draft country fiche is part of an ongoing project and is work in progress. This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

13