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

Very briefly, our Department has a key role in supporting the EPA and in funding its ambient air quality monitoring programme.

I hear what the Deputy is saying about the north side of Cork not getting the requisite number compared to the south side, and I accept this is a critical issue. On the Deputy's behalf, I will look at what can be done to try to enhance monitoring. Given what we discussed earlier about enforcement, the local authorities are the key area where we have to up our game, so that local authorities do not just monitor, but act where we can prove or find out that coal merchants or other merchants are selling fuels that are adding to the problem. We will do both. As I said, I will happily make the case for north Cork in discussions with the EPA.

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