Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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As the Deputy who tabled the first Topical Issue matter, which also falls within the Minister's area, has not appeared, I will move on to the next Topical Issue which is to Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. If he is outside the Chamber and hears me, he might make his way into the Chamber. He is probably waiting his turn. This Topical Issue matter is in the name of Deputy Brian Stanley. We will wait for the Minister to arrive.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Apologies. Did somebody not turn up?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister is not at fault. We had one absentee. I call Deputy Stanley.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for taking this issue. The announcement by the Minister yesterday of the extension of the ban on bituminous coal, or smoky coal as it is described, to 26 extra towns is important. I understand the Minister will now give his response to this matter. Is that correct or should I continue? How many minutes do I have?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy has up to four minutes to make his case.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I want to give this decision a qualified welcome. The information available to Opposition Deputies and spokespersons has been scant. We read about such developments in the media at the weekend.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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When did the Deputy first hear of it? At the weekend?

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, in terms of the speculation around it and then from the debates in the media.

There is also the issue of the number of towns to which it will be extended. I understand it will involve towns with over 15,000 inhabitants. There is a question, particularly in the midlands, as to how this will affect peat products, as peat briquettes are counted as smokeless fuel. What are the implications for peat products? Are there plans to ban peat in the future?

Will the Minister give a list as to the number of towns that will come under the ban? I know Portlaoise and Tullamore are two of them. Do we have the capacity to meet the new demands for smokeless fuels?

There is an opportunity in this regard for job creation, particularly if peat could be used as one of the ingredients for smokeless fuels. Bord na Móna still has substantial tracks of bog in the midlands where moss peat has been stripped away and it is down to the fuel. There are opportunities at sites such as Cul Na Móna, County Laois. I implore the Minister, as well as his colleague who has just left the Chamber, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, to examine this site. Thousands of acres of peat are located on the crossroads of Ireland, on the junction of the M7 and M8 motorways with a railway line passing through it.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Deputy should not forget Littleton.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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There is also Littleton in north Tipperary. There is an opportunity for Bord na Móna to meet the demand for smokeless fuels. However, it depends on the Government to make a policy decision in this regard as it is a semi-State company. I know the Government has a short time left in office. Whether it is a month or six months, I hope there is no ideological block to this from the Minister’s partner in government, Fine Gael. It is important to see how the semi-State sector can get involved in this. Bord na Móna has shown itself to be good in diversifying and developing new business and products. This is an opportunity for it to ramp up and get seriously involved in the production of smokeless fuels.

There is also the opportunity to develop smaller collieries such as Rossmore, County Laois, which has substantial anthracite seams, one of the ingredients for smokeless fuel.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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At the clean air conference in Dublin yesterday, I announced I intend to extend the health and environmental benefits of the ban on smoky coal in place in our cities and large towns to the entire country. It was brought in 25 years ago and, parking the politics, I thought it was innovative legislative action by the Minister at the time. It is now appropriate it is extended to other areas.

The benefits of the scheme include significant reductions in respiratory problems and mortalities from the effects of burning smoky coal. Approximately 8,000 lives have been saved in Dublin since the introduction of the smoky coal ban back in 1990. Further health, environmental and economic benefits, estimated at €53 million per year, will be realised if the ban is extended nationwide. Hundreds of lives will be saved by this action.

The success of the introduction of the ban in Dublin in 1990, as well as its subsequent extension to Cork, Limerick and Galway, has resulted in the perverse anomaly whereby air quality in some provincial towns and villages during the winter is of a vastly poorer quality than in our larger urban areas and towns. Recent research by University College Cork highlighted that air pollution in Killarney can be ten times higher during the night than throughout the day. During the winter, young people playing sports in many large towns are exposed to carcinogens in the air at higher multiples to what is acceptable. This cannot continue.

The original ban in Dublin has been cited widely as a successful policy intervention and has become a best practice icon in the international clean air community. This view was reiterated at yesterday’s conference by several visiting delegates, including those from the World Health Organization, WHO. Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce a nationwide smoking ban ten years ago. We are showing similar leadership in clean air policy.

I have instructed my Department to commence the process that will see the benefits of the smoky coal ban extended nationwide. This process involves consultation with the EU, our colleagues across government, residential fuel market operators and the general public. I am encouraged by the industry’s acknowledgement of the need to improve our air quality and its plans to adapt current practices, as well as investing in cleaner, lower-smoke fuels. Deputy Stanley is correct that this presents many opportunities for Bord na Móna and others involved in the industry. Many of them are already investing in alternative fuel technologies. The Government is encouraging them to do more in this regard.

I hope these consultations will be completed in time to have the necessary provisions in place for the heating season in 2016. However, I accept this is an ambitious timeline and may stretch into the following year. The extension of the smoky coal ban is one of several initiatives my Department is examining as part of a programme to produce the first ever national clean air strategy. This strategy will provide the strategic framework for a set of cross-government policies and actions to reduce harmful emissions, as well as improving air quality and public health to meet current and future EU and international obligations. My Department will shortly issue a consultation document as a first step in this process.

I thank Deputies across the House welcoming the initiative yesterday.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. While I welcome this announcement, it is a qualified welcome. The Minister said 8,000 lives will be saved. In a reply to Deputy Finian McGrath several months ago, he said there were 350 fewer annual deaths because of the smokeless fuel policy in Dublin.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Deputy should multiply that figure by 25 years.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Later this evening, we will be discussing the Climate Action and Low Carbon Bill. Obviously, we must improve air quality, particularly in cities and towns where it is a problem. I am aware of the serious levels of air pollution in Killarney and other towns. Has the Department carried out an assessment of the availability of smokeless fuels? I have not been able to find a list of the towns in which the policy will be rolled out. I checked the Department’s website this afternoon.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The air pollution levels in many towns are not acceptable.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister provide me with a list of the towns that will be involved in the scheme? It will involve towns with over 15,000 inhabitants. However, the existing boundaries in some towns do not take in the whole area involved. As per his reply, I hope the Minister, along with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, will steer Bord na Móna in using this as an opportunity for job creation. I know it has already done some good work in this regard.

There is an issue with fuel poverty.

The fuel allowance scheme was reduced to 26 weeks. That is causing problems. Last winter was not the coldest we have had but there have been some very cold winters and a huge slice of the income of low-income households goes on that.

There may be an issue in some areas with the conversion of appliances, particularly in the homes of the elderly. Certain appliances may need to be adapted in order to burn smokeless fuel. The final issue, which I have raised many times, is the insulation of the old local authority houses with solid walls. There is a very small number of these. There are between 35 and 40 such houses in St. John's Square and O'Moore Place in Portlaoise. They have no insulation. They cannot be insulated using the method that has obtained to date because there is no cavity in the walls. However, there is new technology available now. I have raised this matter with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government many times and he said he would consider it when the phases of the scheme were being completed. Will he examine that scheme again in order to see if it can be extended to accommodate people to whom I refer? It is mainly elderly individuals who live in those houses in question.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The ban is nationwide. There is no town size. It is nationwide.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Like Shaws.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Rural houses.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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It is everywhere. It covers the sale of smoky coal. It will not be possible to sell such coal; it will not be available in this country.

The Deputy asked several questions and I will try to answer as many as possible. Smokeless coal has been tested. From a fuel poverty point of view, this type of coal is able to deliver. There have been questions about it in the past but the technology has moved on and we are quite confident in respect of it.

I agree with the Deputy about diversification in respect of peat. There are no plans to do anything else. What we are doing is designed to deal with smoky coal. This is the initiative I have announced but we share a common interest in this. There are huge opportunities for Bord na Móna and other organisations in respect of diversification of products and building product, particularly in the biomass area, to extend the lifetimes of bogs. There is a great deal of work ongoing with several of those companies, particularly in respect of biomass briquettes and other products.

This ban comes into effect in the Republic of Ireland. Through the North-South Ministerial Council, I have been in discussions with my colleague, Mark Durkan, regarding Northern Ireland. We have undertaken some joint studies on this. I hope that the Northern Ireland Executive will follow our lead and come with us on such a ban because it would be preferable to have the same policy North and South. Somebody had to jump and from a health point of view, I felt it was necessary. When I saw the studies on Killarney and other towns, there was no way I was not going to do this.

The Deputy has raised issues about houses with solid walls previously. There are other issues in respect of those houses. I have asked the Department, in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, to examine what diversification measures could be incorporated into the solutions we are giving local authorities because I am aware of those issues from my constituency.