Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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226. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will review the provisions of sections 24 and 26 of the Air Pollution Act 1987, in view of the fact that local authorities seem to have inadequate powers to prevent the ongoing pollution of the atmosphere by domestic householders arising by the operation of wood burning stoves, despite securing convictions in the courts for breaches of the law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35272/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Section 26 of the Air Pollution Act gives local authorities powers to serve a notice on the occupier of any premises in order to prevent or to limit air pollution from that premises while section 24 applies to non-domestic premises only and is not applicable to domestic households. It is a matter for a local authority to exercise its judgement in any individual case as to whether a nuisance is being caused and if so, what abatement action is required. It should be noted that this section applies equally to all sources of emissions to air including the burning of substances other than wood.

The powers provided are considered adequate and there are no plans to review these provisions of the Air Pollution Act, however my Department is happy to engage with local authorities on any particular problems that arise in implementation.

Regarding wood burning stoves and stoves in general, there are a number of on-going initiatives that are working to improve the emissions from wood burning stoves. The Department of Agriculture Food and Marine has taken steps to raise the standard of wood used through the voluntary Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Scheme, as better quality wood with a low moisture content tends to have lower emissions. In addition the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) has developed standards for solid biofuels, including wood biomass, under Technical Committee (TC) 335 Solid Biofuels, which Ireland has adopted. Although it is not a legal obligation for fuel suppliers to apply this standard, it is strongly recommended that consumers look for fuels meeting the standard when purchasing wood fuels. Also at EU level, Ireland supported the introduction of stringent emission standards from solid fuel space heaters under the Eco Design Directive (2009/125/EC). These standards will apply to all new stoves and must be introduced by 2022 at the very latest, although Member States have the option to introduce them earlier.