James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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244. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if and to what extent his Department or any agency under its remit monitors the level of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere; the towns and cities that regularly exceed a nitrogen dioxide level of 40 micrograms per cubic metre, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16866/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Air quality monitoring in Ireland is carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency to meet the requirements of EU Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, known as the CAFÉ Directive. The Directive requires that certain minimum levels of monitoring are carried out for the purposes of assessment and management of air quality. The EPA monitors a range of atmospheric pollutants, based on data obtained from the 31 monitoring stations that form the national ambient air quality network.The EPA publishes an annual report on air quality, primarily based on the monitoring requirements of the CAFE Directive.  The most recent report, Air Quality in Ireland 2014 – Key Indicators of Ambient Air Quality, was published in September 2015 and provides an assessment of air quality in Ireland for 2014, including Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) levels, monitored at 17 locations across Ireland in 2014. NO₂values for all monitoring sites in Ireland in 2014 were below the annual limit value. Details regarding locations, annual averages and other statistics are available from the following link, with the table relating to NO 2 levels found at page 52: .

There has only ever been one exceedance of the limit value for NO₂in Ireland: that exceedance occurred at a City Centre site in Dublin in 2009.

The 2015 report on air quality in Ireland is currently in production and is due for publication in September.