Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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236. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason for the delay in designating Maynooth, County Kildare, in the smokeless fuel zone, in view of the fact that Kildare County Council sought Maynooth's inclusion two years ago; and if he will now make the regulation to include Maynooth under the Air Pollution Act (Manufacture, Sale, Distribution and Burning of Specific Fuels) Regulations. [2115/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The main provisions of the ban on the marketing, sale, distribution and burning of bituminous solid fuels (or ‘smoky coal ban’ as it is commonly known) were last reviewed in 2012, following a public consultation exercise. Following this review, all towns with populations greater than 15,000 people were added to the smoky coal ban, which aligned the ban more closely with EPA air quality monitoring zones and provided for greater consistency in air quality standards for major urban areas. In addition, the boundaries of most pre-existing ban areas were reviewed to take account of more recent urban development and census data. In County Kildare, the review resulted in amendments to the boundaries of the ban areas in Naas, Celbridge and Leixlip as well as the addition of the town of Newbridge, with effect from May 2013. No change was made to the status of Maynooth then, as the population of the town was below the threshold for compulsory inclusion and no representation was made at that time for the ban to be further extended elsewhere in the county.

Kildare County Council subsequently voted in favour of a motion calling for the extension of the ban to Maynooth and wrote to inform my Department of this in June 2013. This motion was supported by the Health Service Executive. My Department requested that the local authority place a notice of this proposal in local newspapers to allow for a period of consultation. A notice was subsequently placed by the local authority and n o objections were received. My Department then agreed to address this proposal as part of the next up date to the Principal Regulations made under the Air Pollution Act.

Having considered this proposal, my Department considers that there is merit in extending the clean air benefits of the ban to the town of Maynooth, given its size, fast-growing population and close proximity to the existing specified ban area of Celbridge-Leixlip. Accordingly, I intend to finalise, shortly, regulations that will extend the ban area of Celbridge–Leixlip to include the Electoral Division of Maynooth with effect from 1 June 2015. This lead-in period will allow time for businesses and households to change over to smokeless fuel as well as for the local authority to raise awareness of the main provisions of the ban at local level in advance of its introduction.