Noel O'Flynn
Ceist:305 Mr. O'Flynn asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his atten tion has been drawn to the fact that some motor vehicle types on sale here have their exhaust pipe located on the left hand side of the vehicle, near the kerb, and other types have their exhaust pipe located on the right hand side of the vehicle, away from the kerb; if he will have investigations made as to whether it is true that most cars designed by nations which drive on the right tend to locate their exhaust pipes on the left, that is, in the middle of the road for such countries; if he will have investigations made into whether cars made in Japan, which drive on the left tend to locate their exhaust pipes mainly on the right; if he will have investigations made into whether pedestrians and cyclists are exposed to much higher levels of pollution when near a line of cars whose exhaust pipes are near the kerbside compared to similar vehicles whose exhaust pipes are located near the middle of the road; and if so, if he will raise with his EU counterparts the need for special environmental regulations for the location of the exhaust pipe on the right hand side of vehicles for sale in left hand countries. [27262/00]