Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 December 2020
184. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Transport if his Department has received recommendations to address traffic air pollution from the working group on urban transport-related air pollution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40940/20]
View answerThe Urban Transport Related Air Pollution (UTRAP) group was jointly convened by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (now Department of Environment, Climate and Communications) and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (now Department of Transport). It was established to:
- examine transport-related air pollution;
- raise stakeholder awareness of this pollution, its occurrence in urban contexts and its legislative framework;
- review and identify best-practice measures to reduce transport-related air pollution in Irish cities and towns; and
- develop an evidence-based national policy framework within which local authorities could address the NO2 exceedance in Dublin and any potential future exceedances.
The group includes representatives from government Departments, environmental, health and transport agencies, local authorities, and additional key stakeholders.
Its work programme has included analysis and review of:
- the nature of Irish transport-related air pollution in general and in cities;
- public health impacts;
- the nature of the Irish vehicle fleet and vehicle emissions standards;
- available air-pollutant and transport-related pollutant data;
- on-going research, and national and urban-specific air pollutant monitoring processes and models;
- tax measures;
- on-going and projected fleet transition measures in the private and public vehicle fleets, including buses and rail infrastructure; and
- the work of the on-going Department of Transport Five Cities Traffic Demand Management Study.
The initial report and recommendations are currently at an advanced stage of drafting, and will soon be presented to the Group for review. Once the Group finalises and agrees the report and its recommendations they will submit them to me and I plan to publish the report when I have considered it.
