Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Department is currently finalising Ireland's national clean air strategy. It is a policy framework which will recognise the positive impact of existing Government plans but will have to identify and promote additional integrated measures to reduce air pollution and promote cleaner air. It will involve the development of a regional approach to air quality and noise enforcement, and a multi-agency approach to clamping down on the sale of high sulphur content fuel imported from the UK. It will increase investment through a network of monitoring stations to provide scientific evidence of air quality across different parts of the country, including real-time and localised air quality information. It will set out new solid fuel regulations to address pollutant emissions which have an impact upon ambient air quality.

We recently introduced a scheme where 13 towns were added to the list where a smoky coal ban was implemented. The Deputy will be aware that there is a real intention to extend that to the whole country. The issue of air quality, in terms of health effects, is very real. We must be aware of potential legal challenges. The suppliers of certain coal products or other products would say that one cannot be discriminatory. The approach we will take on that within this new strategy is to set out the timeline and mechanism with which we move away from the burning of smoky coal, wood or other materials that create air quality problems and in that way remove any legal difficulties and achieve the objectives. Connected and critical to that is much more extensive air quality monitoring and enforcement systems which, as I said, will be set out in the new clean air strategy.