Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the very important issue of air quality in our cities and towns. The Minister of State may remember that earlier this year, it was reported by the World Health Organization that levels of nitrogen dioxide, which comes from dirty diesel, were exceeded in Dublin and two other locations. Many of our rural towns are still burning dirty coal. By early next year, there is no doubt that we will be in breach of the EU safety levels for nitrogen dioxide. This is already having a serious health and environmental impact on the citizens of Dublin. I do not think it is a case of being found to have exceeded levels because I have spoken to the EPA, which told me that it is a matter of time as it has increased its monitoring within the capital. The EPA expects to have the results of this monitoring early next year and expects that we will be in violation of the limits. Where that has happened previously in other European countries, hundreds of millions of euro in fines have been levied.

We need to put a plan in place. We do not need to get official notification that the air quality in our cities is poor. We know that for a fact. It is within this Government's gift to start protecting our citizens. We should not necessarily be worried about the hundreds of millions of euro in fines this country could face but the fact that the EPA says that 1,180 people die prematurely because of poor air quality in our cities, mainly in Dublin, not to mention the number of families with young children that are affected leading to increased use of medication and illness. We must put a plan in place to improve our air quality. This decline in air quality has been caused by Government policy that encouraged people to drive cars running on dirty diesel. Those decisions were made in 2007 and 2008. We are losing over 1,000 citizens through premature death due to poor air quality.

Is the Government prepared to tell the four local authorities in Dublin to put a plan together to ensure that air quality does not breach EU standards? As I said, it has already breached World Health Organization standards. There is only one answer I need from the Minister of State - "Yes" or "No". If the answer is "No", the likelihood is that another 1,180 citizens will die in the next year. This number is far higher than the number of people who die through road traffic accidents. Must we say to affected families that their parent, brother or sister has to die because we have not been prepared to take preventative action now? We should not wait but do it now.