Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for presenting the Air Pollution (Amendment) Bill 2025 to the House. I categorically make it clear that Fianna Fáil Senators welcome this debate and support the Bill. It is true to say that Ireland is currently not in exceedance of any legal requirements for air quality levels but as the Minister of State said, we can always do better. As the start of his presentation, the Minister of State made a very stark comment in relation to the amount of premature deaths on the island in a year. He put it in terms of the lives we lose on the road. Compared to air pollution and premature deaths in Ireland each year linked directly to poor air quality, it equals ten times the number of road deaths. One can imagine the outcry on this island if there were 1,700 road deaths in a year. That really brings this home. I did not realise there were that many premature deaths in the country. We as public representatives have to take this very seriously. We are all aware of what a death brings to a family when someone is lost on the roads. The pain is no easier when someone loses a loved one as a result of premature death related to poor air quality.

The legislation is very welcome. As someone who lives in rural Ireland, I am still very much aware of the transition in the past number of years from coal to the new processed products on the market now. You realise it when you pass a house with a fire on. Growing up with coal, you knew the smoke was there and the stench, but whatever it is about these products today, the stench and smoke seem to be on a whole other level. This Bill is very pertinent from that perspective.

I have a few questions for the Minister of State. The Minister of State is right to point out there is so much solid fuel burning going on but as someone who lives on the Border, I wonder what measures are included in relation to cross-Border operators. What ability will there be for anyone policing this to stop operators from Derry, Tyrone or Fermanagh selling in Donegal, for example? What is the deterrent? Will they have powers to seize their vehicles to stop that? I know an awful lot of that goes on at the moment. It is not just in Donegal; a lot of those operators sell much further south. What is being done on a cross-Border basis with counterparts in Stormont to have an all-island approach? The recent A5 saga showed some of the new laws brought in in Northern Ireland are quite stringent. I am not sure how stringent they are on air quality but in relation to climate change, it is imperative that whatever is happening on the island, we try to align as best as possible. Will the Minister of State comment on that?

We have obligations to meet the EU level by 2030, which is only right. At the end of the day, when you consider some of the other superpowers and the difficulties they have with air quality, we are certainly not in that ballpark at all. Air quality is important. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. There is a need for much more education around that. From that perspective, are we considering programmes or advertisements on TV or other media in relation to this?I would guesstimate that the vast majority of people do not realise the dangers that are out there.

The other consideration that one of my colleagues mentioned to me a while ago related to simple things like issuing a directive to bus drivers to switch off their engines when they pull up at a school. The Minister of State spoke about haulage. All new cars, or maybe just those that are not electric, are fitted with a mechanism that switches off the engine when idle. Maybe these are the smarter things that we could and should be doing because traffic that is not moving causes many emissions. The cross-border stuff will also be important.

Is there a balance to be struck here from the point of view of homes and retrofitting? Should the Government do more on new air-to-water energy systems, which do not have a fossil fuel requirement? Should it help more to try to bring an end to all this burning? The Minister of State will not have the answer to my next question, which relates to something that is on my mind. People blame cancers on lots of things. We all love open fires but we do not realise the damage being caused by the carbon in the atmosphere arising from burning logs, coal or even turf. Lots of people long for the smell of turf but we have no real detail on the consequences of all this burning. I commend the Bill to the House.