Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Mar 1996

Vol. 462 No. 5

Written Answers. - Acid Rain Effects.

John Ellis

Ceist:

233 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the research being carried out by his Department or an agency on his behalf into the problem of acid rain associated with forestry development; and if he will publish all reports with his Department on acid rain. [5090/96]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

Acid rain is caused by industrial pollution and has not affected forests in Ireland to any great extent.

Under an annual international Cooperative Programme on the Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects in Forests, monitoring of some 40 plots is carried out by Coillte Teoranta on behalf of my Department in relation to forest health, crown conditions and nutrients. The results of these forest condition surveys are published annually by the UN-ECE in co-operation with the European Commission and are available for reference.

Complementary monitoring of forest plots for the EU is also carried out by UCD and includes water deposition, soil waters, throughfall (amount of rainfall through forest) and chemical content. Reports prepared for the EU are available from UCD.

There has been some recent media comment on a report recently finalised by a study team drawn from UCD, TCD, UCC and Coillte Teoranta. This study of "The Effects of Stream Hydrology and Water Quality in Forested Catchments on Fish and Invertebrates" is expected to be published by mid-summer and will have a relevance to the question of water acidification in afforested areas.