Dumping at Sea

The Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Act 2009 amends the Dumping at Sea Act 1996 as amended so that certain functions relating to dumping at sea are transferred from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

From 15th February 2010 it is the function of the EPA to issue Dumping at Sea permits under the Dumping at Sea Act 1996 as amended.

The Dumping at Sea Act 1996 as amended, prohibits the dumping at sea from vessels, aircraft or offshore installation of a substance or material unless permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Any person who wishes to dispose of material at sea is required to apply for a Dumping at Sea permit. The Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Act 2009 empowers the Agency to decide on an application for a permit to dispose of material at sea.

A Dumping at Sea Permit application is submitted to the EPA by a port company, harbour authority, local authority or other public body, or by a private company. The polygon coordinates for the dumping site(s), as well as attributes such as EPA Permit Reg. No., quantity of material permitted to be dumped, method of dumping etc. are taken from the final permit issued by the EPA.

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Most recent data update

15.02.2023

What is in the download?

Files are presented as zipped ESRI Shapefiles.

  • • DumpingAtSea_Boundaries.shp;
  • • DumpingAtSea_ChemicalMonitoring.shp;
  • • Metadata.txt

The DumpingAtSea_Boundaries.shp is an ESRI Shapefile of (polygon data). This dataset contains 422 Dumpimg at Sea boundaries.

The DumpingAtSea_Boundary shapefile shows polygon (area) locations of the site boundaries as licenced under permit by the EPA.

This data include: PermitNo; PermitHolder; YearofPermit; PermitEndData; LocationofDumpSite; Description of Material Dumped, as well as the Method of Dumping.

Metadata for this dataset is included.


The DumpingAtSea_ChemicalMonitoring.shp is an ESRI Shapefile of (point data). This dataset contains 1013 Dumpimg at Sea Chemical Monitoring Points.

The DumpingAtSea_ChemicalMonitoring shapefile shows point locations of the Chemical Monitoring locations as licenced under permit by the EPA.

This data include: Permit Reg Number, Permit Holder, Sampling Date, Easting and Northing, Depth as well as a catalog of Chemical Monitoring results.

Metadata for this dataset is included.