Approximately 34 towns and villages across Ireland are continuing to discharge raw sewage into rivers and seas across Ireland daily, a new report has found.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a report on Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2020, which revealed the number of towns and villages discharging raw sewage has decreased by two since 2018.

Calling for further action to end the discharge of raw sewage in Ireland's waters, Sinn Féin representative Eoin Ó Broin TD said: "The EPA report on Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2020 published this morning finds that waste water treatment remains to be completely inadequate in many areas.

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"The report highlights how 34 towns and villages are discharging raw sewage into the environment every day.

"In 12 large towns and cities wastewater treatment continues not to meet mandatory EU water treatment standards. This includes the Ringsend plant in Dublin, which treats 43% of the state's urban wastewater.

"Our crumbling urban wastewater treatment system is a direct result of the State's historic failure to invest in water infrastructure.

"The EU Commission has ongoing infringement proceedings against this State for this failure to adequately invest.

"This cannot continue. It is not acceptable for raw sewage to continue to be released into our rivers and seas.

"Minister O'Brien must work with Irish Water to ensure that any blockages including resourcing are addressed to ensure that the remediation process is speeded up."