Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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70. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of air quality monitoring stations that are being monitored by his Department in County Cork; the specific locations of these monitoring stations; if he will elaborate on what the most recent data has indicated; if there are plans to increase the number of monitoring stations in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55189/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme is operated, maintained, and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rather than by my Department. However, my Department has provided funding for a significant upgrade to the network in recent years, such that the number of monitoring stations has increased from 29 in 2017 to 103 today.

All stations collect air quality data for a range of pollutants in order to provide information to the public, and for assessment against European legal limit values and World Health Organisation guideline values. Details of the locations of all monitoring stations currently in operation, along with real-time and historic data from each station, including all those in County Cork, can be accessed at www.airquality.ie.

The final expansion of the network will be completed this year and will increase the number of official stations to 116. I have no function in determining the location of new monitoring stations. The EPA decide upon the most appropriate locations based on best practice and EU requirements, and questions in relation to proposed sites may be addressed to them directly. Similarly, the EPA is also responsible for monitoring data from each station, and questions in this regard may also be addressed to them directly.