Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent to which excessive air pollution has been identified at any of the locations monitored in County Kildare; the action proposed or taken as a result of detection of excessive pollutant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4383/11]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent to which air pollution as monitored at the various vantage points throughout the country has given indication of high levels of any particular of pollutant; the action or actions arising in any such case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4384/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 116 together.

The monitoring, assessment and management of ambient air quality in Ireland is carried out according to the requirements of the EU Air Quality Framework Directive. This Directive was transposed into Irish law through the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (Ambient Air Quality Assessment and Management) Regulations 1999. Under further regulations made in 2002, 2004 and 2009, specific ambient air quality standards have been prescribed for the following pollutants:

· sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and lead (2002);

· carbon monoxide and benzene (2002);

· ozone (2004); and

· polyaromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, nickel, cadmium and mercury in ambient air (2009).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responsibility for the monitoring of Irish air quality. The EPA continually monitors a range of atmospheric pollutants via a network of air quality monitoring stations located around the country.

The EPA reports the results of the air quality monitoring of the above pollutants on its website at: http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/monitoring/air/data /. My Department keeps these data under ongoing review to identify any significant trends which might emerge and also meets periodically with the EPA on air quality issues.

The EPA also publishes a comprehensive annual report on air quality, the most recent being Air Quality in Ireland 2009 – Key Indicators of Ambient Air Quality (November 2010). This report provides an overview of ambient air quality trends in Ireland in 2009 based on data from 28 monitoring stations. Of these, 25 were fixed continuous-monitoring stations with a further 3 sites being visited by mobile monitoring units. Newbridge, Co Kildare, was among the locations visited by the mobile monitoring units and no exceedance of statutory limit values was recorded for any pollutant. In addition to the monitoring stations above, there were a further 15 monitoring stations operated by local authorities measuring black smoke. The report confirmed that air quality was generally good at monitoring stations throughout the country.

The report found that levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter (PM10 ) remain a concern in larger cities owing to traffic levels. Elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide were recorded at the monitoring station at Winetavern Street in Dublin City Centre in April 2009. The EPA has advised that this was most likely due to meteorological factors rather than any significant increase in emissions. The Department has met with the EPA, Dublin City Council and the Health Service Executive to discuss this issue, and the four Dublin local authorities are now preparing an Air Quality Management Plan under Section 16 of the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2002 to address this. This plan is expected to be completed by December 2011. Provisional data indicate that levels of nitrogen dioxide in Dublin measured during the first 9 months of 2010 are below the statutory limit value.

In addition to these structured arrangements for air monitoring, the EPA may also from time to time engage in additional air quality monitoring in specific locations where this is considered necessary. In the context of its role as the licensing authority for the landfill facility at Kerdiffstown, Naas, the Agency has installed a continuous monitoring station at Kerdiffstown House providing hourly feeds of data. I understand that the results to date from such sampling, which are also shared with the Health Service Executive, are within the relevant thresholds.