Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 October 2019
510. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason Ireland has not ratified the protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to abate acidification, eutrophication and ground level ozone which Ireland signed on 1 December 1999; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43510/19]
View answerThe United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention) was signed in 1979 by 32 countries, including Ireland, and entered into force in 1983. It has since been extended by eight protocols that identify specific measures to be taken by Parties to cut their emissions of air pollutants, including the 1999 Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone, which Ireland signed on 1 December 1999. This Protocol set national emission ceilings for 2010 up to 2020 for four pollutants: sulphur (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ammonia (NH3). It was amended in 2012, when Fine Particulate Matter was added to the list of pollutants, and new targets were set for 2020. The 2020 targets were given effect in EU law by way of the National Emissions Ceilings Directive 2016/2284 (‘the NEC Directive’) which also goes beyond the scope of the Protocol by establishing emissions targets for 2030. Ireland transposed the NEC Directive by the enactment of the European Union (National Emissions Ceilings) Regulations 2018 (SI 232/2018).
Other requirements of the Protocol (for example in relation to combustion plants, and VOC emissions from aerosols and paints) are given effect in EU law by other EU Directives which have all been transposed into Irish law.
Compliance by Ireland with the terms of the Protocol will be achieved, prior to ratification, through compliance with this suite of EU legislation and the respective Irish transposing regulations.
