Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 April 2022
9. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the Clean Air Strategy; and if it is planned to increase the monitoring of air quality under the strategy. [18568/22]
View answerThe Clean Air Strategy is open for public consultation until 3 May, after which all submissions received will be reviewed, with a view to finalising and publishing the strategy later this year. With respect to air quality monitoring, the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme operated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has undergone a significant expansion between 2017-2022, supported by funding of approximately €5 million from my Department. The network has increased from 29 monitoring stations in 2017 to 102 today, with more due by later this year. The network is already more comprehensive and extensive than those in many other EU Members States.
The Clean Air Strategy points to the fact that now is the appropriate time to move beyond monitoring at a number of specific locations and focus instead on modelling air quality across the entire country in order to provide the public with enhanced air quality information for all locations.
The LIFE EMERALD project, which commenced in 2021 and is part funded by my Department, will use the information from our monitoring network to provide a national three-day air quality forecast and near real-time mapping of air pollutants throughout the country, as well as to create historical maps of air pollutants. This project will improve Ireland’s ambient air quality management capabilities, by using an air quality modelling system to gain a better understanding of the factors contributing to poor air quality, and to develop a system that will provide more comprehensive information to the public.
