Seanad debates

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Róisín GarveyRóisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Today I want to raise a serious issue with the House, which may be something we could look to discuss further. This week is national clean air week. It was developed by Green-Schools, an NGO I worked with for 14 years. We have huge issues with air pollution. People seem to think it is just an urban issue, maybe in Delhi and places, but it is an issue in every single town and village in this country outside school gates. It is a huge issue and we have run campaigns on engine idling within Green-Schools Travel for many years. This week is clean air week. It started yesterday and continues until Friday. I want all Senators present to think about the fact that we leave our engines running when we are sitting there idling. Not only is this a waste of petrol, which we all want to save money on - nearly half a litre of petrol is burned when a car engine is left idling for ten minutes - but we have all become used to the habit of leaving our car engines running outside school gates, at GAA pitches and outside churches. There are so many different places when you hear cars. It has been a pet hate of mine for about 15 years but it has now come to the fore as we see we have 17,000 new cases of asthma each year in this country. Not only do we have air pollution issues not in Dublin but the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. report also shows that we have levels of air pollution above what is acceptable to the EU right across the country.

There are a few things we need to ask for that are very clear. The Department for Transport has given millions for safer routes to school and for better infrastructure to give people better choices outside of the car. It also gave funding for safe routes to school. We need to see the money and the jobs that local authorities and the National Transport Authority, NTA, have been given used by prioritising this issue. It is not fair on our children that those who choose to walk or cycle have to go through vast amounts of air pollution to get to the school gates.

Something I noticed, as a Green-Schools Travel officer for many years, was that we have the highest incidence of air pollution at the school gates, that is, where our children to go school and which should be the cleanest and safest places. Every parent in the country, including myself in the past when my son was younger, seems to think that we deserve to get the child from the bed to the desk, if we could. It is a ridiculous notion. The school gate is only the width or length of one car yet every mother and father wants to try and get the car as close as possible to the school. Could we at least pull back and park and stride a small bit? Our weather is very mild and, sadly, getting milder thanks to climate change. It is mid-November and we are all going around in our T-shirts. I do not have a jacket with me today. So let us get with the programme. It is national clean air week and we, as car drivers, have to take responsibility. If we are leaving our engines idling or we are using the car for everything all the time, it is ridiculous and we have to take some personal responsibility. It will also save us money on petrol and reduce our carbon emissions but we need to make our schools and the places we bring our kids, safer. I ask people to take this seriously and seek the support of the House on that. There is a big job for the EPA and the NTA to do. The ETA need to up its game with air monitors. We cannot just stick it into social housing and blame all the problems on burning coal in the poor areas. That does not cut the mustard any more. We need them down in town centres and outside school gates.

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