Mr. Tim Collins:

I thank the Senator. I will endeavour to get through her questions as quickly as I can.

Air pollution is an interesting one. I worked for Mary Harney in the late 1980s. She was responsible for bringing in the first ban on smoky solid fuel in Dublin and, subsequently, in other major cities in 1990. Over that period we saved about 10,000 lives, but our understanding of air pollution has evolved significantly since then. We used to think air pollution was the stuff you could see, the smog, but in fact the air pollution that kills people is fine particulates called PM2.5. They are invisible. They are about 1/30th the width of a human hair. They are emitted from burning solid fuel. More are emitted from sod turf, which is the worst fuel type in this regard, wet wood and smoky coal, but they are also emitted from other solid fuels.

Smokeless coal also emits these fine particulates. They not only go into the atmosphere through the chimney; they go into the home. Between 30% and 40% of the particulates of an open fire will flow into a living room. We know that these are causing health problems, including cardiovascular disease. They move from the lungs into the fine blood vessels and they cause blockages in those blood vessels. They can cause dementia and a range of other illnesses. The only way to tackle this problem is by removing solid fuel burning as a practice in society, first by tackling the worst fuels. The Government has a consultation process in place to examine the phasing out of smoky coal, wet wood and sod turf. We have wholeheartedly endorsed that process, but we believe it needs to be an all-island basis because air pollution is not something particular to the Twenty-six Counties. If these fuels are available across the Border, towns along the Border will still be exposed.

On Healthy Ireland funding, we think the level of funding is ridiculously low. There is so much that can be done in terms of prevention. As stated, it must start with address of the commercial and social determinants of health. We need to get out into the disadvantaged communities where health inequalities are significant and work at that level. Healthy Ireland has a role to play in that regard. I will hand over to Ms Walsh now.