Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On 28 September 2015, there was a banner headline in The Irish Times, "Nationwide ban on smoky coal due within the next year". Last Monday,there was again a headline in The Irish Times to the effect that the Government would take action on the smoky coal ban but when one reads the detail, one will see it is a consultation framework and it is being referred to councils. This is more ducking and diving, dodging of the core issue and failure of backbone or to stand up to the vested interests. In a recent letter to Deputy Browne from the HSE on this issue, the HSE estimates that the cost to the Exchequer of poor air quality and associated health impacts is approximately €2 billion a year. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, confirms the extraordinary impact of the introduction by the then Minister, Mary Harney, of the smoky coal ban in 1990 on air quality. The medical evidence shows a reduction in respiratory illnesses and premature death. Given the overwhelming medical evidence, it is extraordinary that a Minister was able to do it in 1990 but the Government is incapable of doing it. This Government seems to lack the bottle to take on the vested interests in the interest of good human health and air quality.

Several of us have been raising this for well over a year. The reason for that first headline was that the then Minister, Deputy Kelly, made that commitment. It was a legislative promise by the Government. He was in the previous Government. He was followed in office by Deputy Naughten, who made the promise. The former Minister, Deputy Naughten, is going around the place saying that if he was still there, this definitely would have happened. I assume he had access to the same advices that the current Minister has.

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