Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 May 1995

Vol. 453 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Glashaboy (Cork) Ozone Pollution Alert.

Miss Quill

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for enabling me to raise this important issue in the Dáil this evening. I thank the Minister for Justice, Deputy Owen, for taking the first available opportunity, on the part of any Government Minister, to address the serious issue that has arisen over the past weekend. I refer to the issuing of Ireland's first ozone pollution warning at Glashaboy, a rural area outside Cork city, last Saturday. At 11 a.m. it was first detected that the safety limits established by the Environmental Protection Agency in relation to ozone levels were breached. Accordingly, an alert was issued by the meteorological station at 11 a.m. and this continued at intervals until 4 p.m.

Glashaboy is situated seven miles east of Cork city. If the limits were breached in this non-urban area, it is reasonable and logical to conclude that the levels in the city centre, with its higher density to traffic, must also have been breached and, therefore, would have been more injurious to health. The warning in question indicated that the young, the old and people suffering from respiratory ailments of any kind should remain indoors and should not go outdoors for the duration of the health warning.

Because of a low level of environmental awareness, the warnings went largely unheard and, therefore, largely unheeded. A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment, when questioned by a journalist from The Cork Examiner, explained that there was no need for over-reaction and that unless people suffered from asthma or other respiratory type ailments, there was no danger for their health.

Over half the children in this country suffer from asthma and it is bordering on negligence to conclude that a potentially serious health hazard is not looming. Properly located ozone pollution monitoring stations should be put in place immediately in Cork city and in the immediate environment. At present, Cork Corporation tests only for sulphur dioxide and smoke particles in the air. It does not test for ozone pollution.

I ask the Minister to ensure that this matter is attended to and rectified urgently. Immediate steps must be taken by the Department of the Environment to investigate the substances that lead to ozone pollution with a view to introducing measures that would significantly reduce the levels of these substances, thereby protecting the health of our people, young and old.

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

On behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Deputy McManus, I am glad of this opportunity to respond to the concerns prompted by last weekend's occurrence of higher than usual concentrations of ozone in the Cork city area.

I should first explain that ground level ozone is the result of a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides, mainly from vehicles and power generation, and volatile organic compounds, mainly from vehicles and solvents. It represents a well identified form of air pollution, and in sufficiently high concentrations can seriously affect respiration by human beings, animals and plants.

Ground level ozone as an air pollutant is not yet well understood as better known pollutants such as smoke, sulphur dioxide and lead, for which air quality standards have already been fixed at national and EU level. Deputy Quill rightly adverted to the fact that people are not aware of ozone pollution. An EU directive of 1992 accordingly determined that an ozone monitoring regime should be established in all member states. This would provide detailed information on the nature and scale of ozone pollution as a preparation for the fixing of air quality standards. Irish participation in this ozone monitoring programme commenced this year. Six monitoring stations have been established at Dublin, Cork, Galway, Monaghan, Wicklow and Kilkenny. The precise location of these monitors was determined in accordance with EU requirements on the placement of such equipment. The amount of ozone present in city areas is generally reduced by complex reactions with nitrogen oxides, so that the highest ozone levels are to be found away from built-up areas with heavy traffic. Consequently, locating monitors in inner city areas, as has been suggested, could be expected to give rise to lower reported ozone levels than those from existing monitoring locations.

The EU monitoring programme has a public information dimension in that it fixes two different thresholds for the release of information to the public about ozone pollution. The first is, where the level of 90 parts of ozone per billion of air is exceeded on an average hourly basis, notice is given to susceptible sections of the public — the old, the very young and those with respiratory conditions — to avoid unaccustomed physical exercise and, where possible, remain indoors for the duration of the ozone episode. The second is that a further threshold can be activated by a level of ozone exceeding 180 parts per billion, and in this event a similar notice is given to the public at large.

The first and lower of these thresholds was exceeded in the Cork city area, as the Deputy said, for two brief periods on Saturday 27 May and Sunday 28 May. This resulted in the Meteorology Office issuing the first of the notifications which I have described. The highest ozone value monitored on 27 May was 98 parts per billion and on 28 May was 112 parts per billion. I can assure the House that the lower threshold represents very much a precautionary level in terms of any impact on human health. The public information notice associated with this threshold should not be regarded as an alarm but as a practical suggestion which susceptible sections of the public may wish to follow in a sensible way.

An unusual aspect of these episodes was that they occurred during parts of the day and in climatic conditions where ground level ozone formation to the levels registered would not have been expected. Sunlight and an air temperature of at least 20ºC to 22ºC are normally required to create ozone pollution. Given the unusual nature of the episode the Department of the Environment has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the matter and to seek an explanation for the Cork monitoring results given the indications against local ozone formation in these cases.

The Government is committed to taking all measures necessary to address ozone and any other form of air pollution. We need first to understand the dimensions and causes of the problem. That is the purpose of the systematic monitoring which is taking place in Ireland and throughout the EU. Further monitoring of the situation will tell us more clearly whether ozone levels of serious proportions can be expected in Ireland, and whether the problem is primarily of national or transboundary origin. Responses to the problem must be based on this information.

I can assure the Deputy that we will pursue these questions actively and diligently in the wake of the Cork experience.