Malcolm Byrne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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571. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will permit Wexford County Council to proceed with its unanimously agreed motion to ban the sale and use of smoky calls in the county. [53161/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Part IV of the Air Pollution Act 1987 makes provision for Special Control Areas for the control of air pollution. This is a process which may be initiated by a Local Authority, but in practice this has proven cumbersome in the past, with requirements for consultation, and public hearings where there are objections to a proposal for an order, before ultimately returning to the Minister for confirmation. For these reasons, on each of the occasions that the ban has been extended, it has been done through statutory instrument made by my predecessors under powers conferred by the Air Pollution Act, 1987, and it is on this basis that I intend to proceed on any further extensions to the ban.

I have announced today the extension of the existing smoky coal ban to 13 additional towns, including Enniscorthy in County Wexford.