Concerned environmentalists might have rejoiced at the announcement of the Minister for the Environment that from 1 October next the marketing, sale and distribution of coal is to be banned in the Dublin built-up area. However, those of us in Crumlin, Drimnagh, the Bluebell areas and Neilstown recognised that the Minister was engaging in a game of publicity-seeking for himself at the expense of those people who live in areas that had been declared smoke control zones by their representative local authorities, for example, Dublin Corporation for Crumlin areas A and B and Dublin County Council for Neilstown areas 1 and 2. CDL, having stupidly obstructed Dublin Corporation with their perpetual whingeing and objections about the declaration of smoke control zones, and with the timely demand by our parliamentary colleague, Deputy Quinn, who first led a chorus, "ban the burning of bituminous coal", combined to give the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Flynn, and the Minister of State, Deputy Harney, their golden opportunity to appear to be reasonable and progressive in announcing that they would bow to the pressure that something must be done. They outlawed the burning of coal from 1 October next.
While those theatricals were taking place in the Dáil a different agenda was being worked out on the streets of Crumlin, Drimnagh and Bluebell where Dublin Corporation's environmental health officers were diligently pursuing the objective as laid down in the Air Pollution Act, 1987. They were knocking on doors, assessing and monitoring the areas' consumption of coal and the effect of the burning of coal on the filters based in the Eastern Health Board's clinic on the Old County Road, Crumlin. To effectively outlaw the burning of coal with one clean sweep of his Ministerial he has instructed the environmental health officers who are half way through the the public image of the Taoiseach whom marketing and public relations people, like Carr Communications, decided to market as an environmentally friendly President of the European Community.
Let us look at how environment-friendly he is to the residents of Crumlin and Bluebell. He has given £4 million in grant assistance to the people of Ballyfermot to change over from the burning of bituminous coal to smokeless fuels and appliances. The scheme has been very popular in Ballyfermot as indicated by the number of grant applications processed by Dublin Corporation to date. For example, in area A, of the 840 eligible applications, 664 have been processed; in area B of the 894 applications that were eligible, grant assistance will be given in 513 cases and, in area C, of the 3,000 that were eligible, 1,760 have been processed for grant assistance to date.
I congratulate the people of Ballyfermot and, in particular, my party colleague, Deputy Mac Giolla, and the people on the ground led by Miss Linda Kavanagh who diligently campaigned that Ballyfermot, areas A, B, C and D be ratified by the Minister as smoke control zones. The people of Drimnagh, Crumlin and Bluebell have suffered just as badly as the people of Ballyfermot from some of the highest levels of smoke pollution ever recorded in Dublin. Is the Minister not aware that the monitor on the Old County Road in Crumlin recorded one of the highest ever recorded levels of pollution in any of the 12 Dublin Corporation monitors? How does the Minister propose to help the people there in this situation? He slaps them in the face and says: "You are not to burn any more coal, you will have to buy more expensive coals." He is treating them as second class citizens.
The Minister knows that coalite costs £57 a tonne more than coal. He is punishing my constituents on two counts. First, he is forcing them to burn a fuel which is vastly more expensive and, second, he is depriving them of the grants to which they would be entitled if the Minister would sign the orders, agreed by Dublin City Council, for areas A and B of Crumlin. All I am doing is asking the Minister for his signature. I am not asking him for money out of his own pocket. I am asking him to reverse the decision and his directive to Dublin Corporation instructing them to stop any further work on surveys to create further smoke control zones. It is a disgrace that he has instructed the environmental health officers who are half way through the Cabra area to cease this activity and get back to their desks. I am asking the Minister to do exactly as has been done in England—and continues to be done to this day—and in Belfast and Northern Ireland where 20 years later they are still continuing to create smoke control zones and grant-assisting the residents concerned.
I am asking the Minister to give in an orderly and planned manner grant assistance to people in this city to enable them to change to smokeless fuel. The Minister's strategy to date has been to apply the whip to all outside the Ballyfermot area, to apply the full force of legislation at his disposal, to threaten, to penalise, to punish, to fine or to jail those who would break the law. It is all whip and no carrot. There are no enticements by way of grants available outside the area of Ballyfermot. I am asking the Minister to allow Dublin Corporation to continue in a planned and orderly manner to create slowly and systematically smoke control zones, throught Dublin city and, after he has ratified areas A and B of Crumlin, to allow area C to be proceeded with at Dublin City Council level.
Does the Minister not know or care about the effect his arbitrary ban will have on the vast majority of low income families in this city? Does he think they are like himself, that they can afford central heating without assistance? Does he not realise that for hundreds of thousands of people coal, at its present price, is dear enough and outside the reach of many people without forcing them to pay £57 a tonne more for smokeless fuel?
In the Minister's eagerness to portray an environment friendly image of the Taoiseach to the world, he has stabbed in the back the ordinary man and woman in Dublin. I should like to ask the Minister why he has not warned the people of Dublin of the dangers involved in burning certain alternative smokeless fuels, for example, calco and wondercoal, in fireplaces that have backboilers. I am sure the Minister is aware of tests carried out in England on both the fireplaces and chimneys which have used these petrocoke products. I suggest the Minister issue a statement after tonight's debate in the House and declare what he or she knows about the dangers involved in the burning of these products.
In conclusion, all I am looking for here is fair play for the people of Crumlin and Drimnagh who believed, by virtue of the fact that their doors had been knocked on by Dublin Corporation, they would be treated in like manner with those of Ballyfermot and that they would be entitled to grant assistance if they wished to move away from the burning of bituminous coals to alternative fuels or to the use of other appliances. I am afraid that what the Minister intends doing from 1 October is a money saving exercise, a PR gimmick that will penalise the least well off in this city.
