The report covers environmental issues such as water and air pollution.
Westmeath County Council has been ranked as the worst performing local authority in the country the EPA on environmental issues.
The Environmental Protection Agency's performance report for 2023 cited Westmeath council for a lack of risk-based inspections and for failing to allocate sufficient resources for water, air, and noise enforcement.
Out of 20 National Enforcement Priorities, Westmeath County Council achieved a 'strong' or 'excellent' result in just 8 categories - down from 11 in 2022.
Offaly's local authority saw a significant improvement, moving from last to seventh in the report, meeting performance criteria in 12 of 20 categories.
Laois improved as well, getting strong or excellent ratings in 15 of the EPAs National Enforcement Priorities.
Valerie Doyle, Senior manager on the Waste and Authority Enforcement team, says while waste management has seen good improvement, more needs to be done in the other areas:
Local authorities in the midlands are among the worst run in the country in the handling of household and commercial waste last year.
A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency shows most county councils achieved a strong rate, while in the midlands each county only ranked as moderate.
In other areas of waste management, both Laois and Offaly performed strongly in relation to the disposal of end of life vehicles and metals, while Westmeath again only scored a moderate rating.
While Offaly county council is the only one in the region to receive a 'strong' result on organisation registration and compliance, while Laois and Westmeath were given moderate results.
Ms Doyle, says overall local authorities have improved in preventing illegal dumping:
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