A damning report has highlighted the continued pollution currently taking place at treatment plants in Dublin and around the country.
The Environmental protection Agency released a report highlighting 34 towns across the country are dumping raw sewage into the environment every day.
A number of delays have meant that treatment plants have been unable to treat sewage to the basic EU standard.
According to the EPA, this continued pollution is putting the general public health at risk.
The EPA report estimates that based on the current level of investment, it could take another 20 years to fully fix the problem.
"It is unacceptable that 15 years after the final deadline to comply, half of Ireland’s urban wastewater is still not treated to the basic EU standards," said Dr Tom Ryan, EPA director of environmental enforcement.
One of the worst offenders is the treatment plant at Ringsend.
The EPA report claims the plant is "overloaded" and is unable to treat a large percentage of wastewater it receives. Major upgrade works are currently being undertaken at the plant to increase capacity.
In total, 12 large towns across the country have failed to meet the treatment standards designed to protect the surrounding environment.
However, it's not all bad news. There have been improvements in recent with upgrades at treatment plants around the country.
Last year, the number of large towns that failed to meet treatment standards was 19.
There's also been a reduction in the number of urban areas falling short of environmental protection standards has dropped from 28 in 2017 to 12 in 2020.
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