Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2013
936. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if it is permissible to sell smoke-emitting fuels in areas where it may not be burned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38019/13]
View answerThe Air Pollution Act (Marketing, Sale, Distribution and Burning of Specified Fuels) Regulations 2012 regulate the sale of solid fuel in the State and provide the basis for the smoky coal ban. The main legislative provisions that apply inside smoky coal ban areas include a ban on the marketing, sale, distribution and burning of smoky coal; a requirement to sell solid fuel in sealed bags with a printed notice; a requirement for commercial operators to maintain a register, if storing smoky coal for the purpose of placing on the market or on sale at a separate location outside the ban area; transportation of smoky coal in minimum quantities of 3 metric tonnes in Dublin or 1 tonne inside other ban areas; and retention of records by drivers of vehicles transporting smoky coal, detailing the type of fuel on board, who supplied it and to where it is being transported.
Maps of all smoky coal ban areas are available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Atmosphere/AirQuality/SmokyCoalBan.
The Regulations also require that all smoky coal sold outside smoky coal ban areas for residential use outside those areas must have a sulphur content of no more than 0.7%. This consolidates the environmental and related human health benefits achieved by an earlier voluntary agreement with the Solid Fuel Trade Group (SFTG), representing the majority of major coal importers.
Coal bagging operators and certain solid fuel suppliers trading in smoky coal must be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Those who must register include all fuel wholesalers and distributors of smoky coal but only those retailers for whom 50% or more of their total annual sales proceeds are from smoky coal. However, all retailers who trade in smoky coal must ensure that their fuel wholesalers are registered with the EPA and must hold a record to this effect with their supplier's registration number.
