Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 27 Sep 2023

Vol. 1042 No. 6

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Commissions of Inquiry

Deputy Matt Carthy

The House will know that Shane O'Farrell was 23 years of age when he was killed in a hit-and-run on 2 August 2011 by Zigimantas Gridziuska, a known criminal who had breached several bail conditions at the time and had 42 previous convictions in three different jurisdictions. Since Shane's death, his family have sought to get the truth of why the man who killed their son was in a position to do so when he should have been in prison and certainly should not have been on the road in Carrickmacross that fateful evening. I welcome Shane's family here today.

In 2018, the Dáil supported a motion for the establishment of a public inquiry. Among the Members who insisted that only such an inquiry could get the full facts of these matters was the Fianna Fáil leader and current Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin. Rather than implementing the decision of the Dáil, the then Government established a scoping exercise. Many, myself included, feared the exercise was an attempt to delay. Regrettably, the reality is worse than I feared. It now seems it is the Government's intention that the scoping exercise not just delay the truth but act as a barrier against getting it.

The Minister will know that many aspects of the scoping report have been challenged by Shane O'Farrell's family. It is not acceptable that our Government has refused to provide time for a full debate on its contents. This is something I will continue to seek. Zigimantas Gridziuska is solely responsible for the death of Shane O'Farrell, nobody else, and certainly not Shane himself. A crucial question that has not been answered is why this man was in a position to crash into a young Carrickmacross lad, kill him and leave the scene, when he clearly should have been in prison in light of multiple breaches of multiple bail conditions set by multiple courts.

Every single person who understands these matters to whom to I have spoken privately, including many members of An Garda Síochána, have arrived at the same theory. They believe that Mr. Gridziuska must have been a Garda informer. The O'Farrell family has established that there is a file on Mr. Gridziuska in the Garda national crime, security and intelligence service, but they do not know what is on that file. They deserve to know. The only way they will find out is if the Minister finally accedes to implementing the decision of the House to establish an independent public inquiry into this case.

Deputy Bríd Smith

To follow on from that, I want to warmly welcome Lucia and her family here today. I also think it is a tragedy that they have to be here this morning to listen to this all over again. To repeat, in 2018 this House passed a motion for a public inquiry into the events leading up to the death of Shane O'Farrell. In February 2019, the Seanad passed a similar motion. We do not have that inquiry.

We do, however, have a scoping exercise. Judge Gerard Haughton admits in his report there were concerns in the Department of Justice regarding suggested changes in the terms of reference, suggestions proposed by the family to the judge who gave them guarantees that their terms of reference would be taken into account. They have been amended and removed from the terms of reference.

I want to know couple of things. Like Deputy Carthy, the key question that has to be answered is why this report and the Department of Justice are constantly dealing with the events on the night. The first seven paragraphs of the report are all about the condition of Shane's bicycle, whether there were reflectors on it and the speed at which he was cycling. There is less and less as one goes through the report about the actual killer and the fact he was before seven courts and on bail before five or seven courts, or the fact that a judge in a court in Monaghan said, "If this man offends again I want him back here to jail him". That never happened.

What was going on with the gardaí is the question. Why was a killer, who was out on bail, allowed to kill? Why do we have a scoping exercise that offends the family and addresses the condition of the victim more than the killer? This is a pure victim blaming exercise. It has to be dismissed and a public inquiry established by this House and the Seanad.

Minister for Justice (Deputy Helen McEntee)

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I want to start by acknowledging the family who are in the Gallery and thank them for being here this morning. I also want to acknowledge the huge hurt and loss that has been caused by Shane's death. I also acknowledge those in the wider family and community who loved him.

As the Deputies are aware, on 3 July my Department published the report that was carried out by Judge Gerard Haughton arising from the scoping exercise into the circumstances surrounding the tragic and untimely death of Shane O'Farrell in, as was mentioned, August 2011. Judge Haughton was appointed by the former Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, in 2019 to carry out the scoping exercise. This was in light of a huge amount of controversy, hurt and upset surrounding the circumstances of Shane's tragic death. Specifically, the purpose of the exercise was to advise the Minister as to whether any further investigation or inquiry beyond those that had been carried out was necessary and, if so, to advise and inform of such investigation or inquiry or its terms of reference. I want to reassure the Deputies that there was no attempt to delay anything or to prevent any further inquiry. It is very much open to Judge Haughton to outline if a further inquiry is needed and what the scope and tenure of that would be.

I want to thank Judge Haughton who conducted the scoping exercise and everyone, including the family, who co-operated with this process. His work has resulted in what I believe is a very thorough and comprehensive report. It is 416 pages long and every effort was made to make sure it was a fair and true representation of the situation, the facts at hand and whether more investigation was needed.

He submitted his final report to me on 1 June 2022. In receipt of that, I then sought the Attorney General's advice on the issue of publication. Following that, the then Taoiseach, now Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, and I met with members of the O’Farrell family regarding the report in terms of both the content and publication. More recently, the Minister, Deputy Harris, met with members of the family in April.

In his report, Judge Haughton concluded there are no circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Farrell that warrant further investigation or inquiry beyond what has already been carried out. He is very clear on that. Beyond those that have been carried out, there is no further warrant of investigation. He further concludes that no inquiry is necessary into the systems and procedures for information sharing between An Garda Síochána, the Courts Service and other relevant State bodies operating at the time of O'Farrell's death.

Judge Haughton made a number of important recommendations regarding bail, suspended sentences, legislation, amendments to the Road Traffic Act and in relation to notices of appeal that are administered by the Courts Service. I can confirm and I assure the Deputies that many of these recommendations are being progressed, if not enacted at this stage. As they are implemented, I have absolute confidence they will strengthen our justice system.

Above all, we want to ensure nobody goes through what the family has gone through and nobody else finds themselves in this situation. Whatever changes need to be made are being made. However, it is very clear in this report that it does not warrant a further inquiry, which, at the end of that, will not give us any different answers or leave us in a different position than we are now. I know this is extremely difficult in general and in particular for the family. I urge Deputies to read the report. I know these Deputies have, but those who have not, I urge them to read the report and go through all of the facts that have been outlined here. Judge Haughton is very clear that a further inquiry would not help. The most important thing is that we support and help the family but a further inquiry would not do that.

Deputy Matt Carthy

I wish to put on the record that I absolutely refute and reject that position. The O’Farrell family has been here many times before and have had 11 years or more now of words of sympathy in this House. They want to see action. I would have liked if the Minister had taken the opportunity today to agree to some small steps that could allow them, but also society at large, to get to the truth as to why a man who should have been imprisoned was in a position to kill Shane O’Farrell.

The first thing the Minister could do is agree to establish the public inquiry as mandated by both Houses of the Oireachtas. She clearly rejected that this morning. If she cannot or will not do those things, she could commit to two things. She could instruct the Government Whip to provide time for a full debate in this House on the scoping exercise report that has been laid before us. That is the least the Dáil deserves. Second, she can confirm whether she knows Zigimantas Gridziuska was a Garda informer. If she does not know that, she cannot say hand on heart that the full facts have been established by the scoping exercise. She could commit this morning that if she does not know, she will go to the Garda Commissioner today and find out.

Deputy Bríd Smith

I endorse everything Deputy Carthy said. I will not repeat it but I will repeat something I said earlier. In his report, the judge stated the Department of Justice raised concerns regarding the suggested changes the family wanted in the terms of reference and the terms of reference were comprehensively amended by the Department of Justice. Explain that, please. What was going on that the Department of Justice felt necessary to invite the family to look at and have input into the terms of reference and then comprehensively change them, according to the judge?

We have seven paragraphs explaining why Shane was part of his own problem because he did not have reflectors, a jacket or this, that and the other. What page in this report does it explain why a man with so many convictions was on bail and at liberty to kill? Will the Minister name the page where it states that and please explain to us why the Department comprehensively changed the terms of reference? Those are the words of Judge Haughton, not mine.

Deputy Helen McEntee

I suggest that we have taken action. The fact this report has taken significantly longer is not what anybody expected but it is because Judge Haughton wanted to make sure it was thorough, no stone was left unturned and any important information that could form the basis of a further inquiry or anything that might necessarily need further inquiry was investigated. No stone was left unturned; that is why it has taken so long. The terms of reference were set out very clearly. There was clearly engagement on this with the family and many other people to make sure all of the facts were uncovered. I again ask Deputies to read what is in the report and take the time to consider its contents. I have no problem sitting here and going through it with Deputies in the House.

Deputy Matt Carthy

So the Minister would agree to a debate.

Deputy Helen McEntee

I have no issue with that. There is no problem. It gives the opportunity to anybody coming into the House to read it and go through it in detail. However, I am clear that the report itself states there is no need for further inquiry and that is the basis of all of the facts we have in this. I accept the report. It has been published and Government has accepted it as well.

Deputy Bríd Smith

Can we have a debate in this House? The House and the Seanad have been ignored-----

Deputy Matt Carthy

Was Zigimantas Gridziuska a Garda informer?

Deputy Helen McEntee

Really?

Deputy Bríd Smith

The Minister has not answered the questions. They could be answered at a full debate in front of all the Members of this House.

Public Transport

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

I bring to the Minister of State’s attention issues that occur regularly in my constituency regarding the provision of public transport. I am lucky to represent one of the youngest and fastest growing parts of this island. The needs of the communities I represent are many and varied but the one thing that comes back time and again is dissatisfaction with the quality and frequency of public transport. I have already corresponded directly with the Minister for Transport regarding the famous north County Dublin disappearing buses. Yet, the Government chose to award the contract again to Go-Ahead when it seems to be the primary offender in my area.

What is that like and what is the impact of these disappearing buses? It has happened to me many times as well. The bus is up on the display. You stand there and wait, and then the bus disappears off the display and you have no idea when the bus will come. What it does, and the reason I am raising this, is that it undermines the confidence people can have in public transport. What do they do when they cannot rely on the bus? They take their car. They get let down by the bus time and again, with no choice then but to join all of the traffic heading down the M1 in the morning, contributing to carbon emissions and doing things they do not want to have to do but are left with no choice. Many mornings, parents are forced to drive their kids to school because the bus does not turn up. Again, these are young students who are losing confidence with the public transport system. This, of course, adds to the number of cars on the road but it also means everybody is running late for the day. If it were an infrequent occurrence, I would not be raising it. However, it is a daily occurrence. It is not acceptable for my area to be left behind in this way.

Projects such as the DART+ and the Metro are announced and then, for some reason, we get put to the back. DART+ was announced, but it will go to another part of Dublin, even though it is more than ten years now since the bridges were raised on the northern line to accommodate the DART. We get put behind other parts of Dublin when the need is acute.

I use the example of Lusk, a town in my area with a growing population. The Lusk action group wrote recently to the National Transport Authority, NTA, to highlight its concerns and frustration at the poor state of public transport in our area. The population of Lusk town has more than trebled in recent years, from 2,456 in 2002 to 8,806 in 2022. With it, we have seen a massive growth in the demand for accessible, reliable public transport. Here is the letter they wrote to the NTA, which states:

...frequent bypassing of waiting passengers, often with empty buses, most commonly occurring in Rush on Monday and Friday for the 16:07 33X, coinciding with kids coming out of St. Joseph’s Secondary School. This leaves the pupils from St. Joseph's waiting an hour and 15 minutes for the next bus.

With the 33X, feedback suggests that up to 15 people are left standing at the bus stop every morning, which is unsafe and uncomfortable for passengers. The 801 and the 826 have been cancelled on a number of occasions. The knock-on impact for workers waiting on those buses is of course they are late for work. I have spoken to people who are on the final written warning in their workplace simply because they are late all the time. It is not their fault. They have to rely on the bus. The start time of the Sunday bus service does not suit workers who work in the airport, which many of my constituents do. Again, they are forced to get into their cars. There are issues with the 14 and the 47. The 33A from Lusk to Swords is cancelled most Fridays. I get emails about it. That bus service does not seem to run at all and yet there is a real demand for it.

Minister of State at the Department of Education (Deputy Josepha Madigan)

I thank Deputy O'Reilly for the question. I will take this response on behalf of the Minister for Transport. Public transport is also pertinent in my own consistency of Dublin Rathdown. I understand the points the Deputy is making on the quality and the frequency of public transport, the disappearing buses - the Deputy mentioned Lusk as well - and having accessible and reliable public transport. I will certainly bring that to the attention of the Minister. I will outline some of the comments that he has given me in response to the Deputy's query.

The national sustainable mobility policy and its five-year action plan, which was published last year, provide strong policy support to the continued expansion and enhancement of public transport services. The Minister for Transport is delighted to say that this strong policy support has been backed up by increased levels of Exchequer funding, which is supporting the roll-out of initiatives such as those the Deputy has mentioned: MetroLink, BusConnects Dublin and DART+. MetroLink will be a fully segregated and mostly underground new rail line from the Swords area to Charlemont in the south of Dublin city centre. It is a key project under the national development plan.

A significant milestone in the progression of the MetroLink project was cleared in July 2022 when the Minister secured decision gate 1 approval under the public spending code from the Cabinet for the project. This decision enabled the project to move to a planning application stage and in September last year, Transport Infrastructure Ireland submitted a railway order application to An Bord Pleanála.

Under the national development plan, BusConnects programmes will be substantially delivered in all of Ireland’s five cities by the end of the decade. BusConnects Dublin will provide more sustainable, accessible and reliable transport options, resulting in a higher quality service. By revitalising public transport and providing safe active travel routes, the project represents a necessary modal shift away from private transport. I am aware that the Deputy has concerns in relation to that, as she has mentioned.

The programme preliminary business case for BusConnects Dublin and the detailed project brief for next-generation ticketing were approved by the Government in March 2022. The network redesign for the entire Dublin network is being rolled out over 11 phases and currently the National Transport Authority, NTA, expects it to be completed by the end of 2025. This will bring significantly enhanced services to north Dublin. This includes the local buses around Swords, in Skerries and in the surrounding areas. The Dublin area network has been redesigned to provide co-ordinated spine services on the main radial corridors to and from the city centre together with better orbital and local connections. There will be more buses across the day and the 24-7 network is also being expanded.

The main changes in north County Dublin are currently planned for introduction in the early part of 2025, including the A-spine between Dublin city centre and Swords via the airport, a new orbital link via the M50 between Swords and Blanchardstown, and expanded local services. A service from Balbriggan to the airport via Skerries and Swords will be co-ordinated with services from Donabate to Swords and the airport to give regular intervals across the day.

The 90-minute fare, which has been introduced as part of BusConnects, offers free transfers between bus, DART, suburban rail and Luas. Together with the expanded and co-ordinated network, this simplifies journeys involving interchange and increases accessibility. There is also the DART+ programme, which will transform rail services across the greater Dublin area when fully rolled out.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

The Minister of State will forgive a little bit of cynicism on my part when she mentions projects like MetroLink. There are people in my constituency who bought houses off the plans from brochures that had a picture of MetroLink on them. They thought their kids might be able to use it to go to school and perhaps college, and maybe at some point their kids might be able to use it to get into town to collect their pension. There is a lot of frustration on behalf of my constituents because when a big project is planned it seems the small stuff does not get done.

The Minister of State mentioned safe active travel but it is not possible to cycle between the big towns in my constituency. I know this because I have done it and it is absolutely terrifying. The last time I cycled to Rush I spent my entire time there worrying about having to cycle back. The roads are just not suitable for cyclists so safe active travel is not an option. Public transport needs to be that option.

Will the Minister of State pass on to the senior Minister - on my behalf - that he needs to look at services such as the 33X? There are services that are oversubscribed and things that are working well but people are losing confidence in them because they cannot get on the bus in the morning. It is not because they do not want to get on the bus. Sometimes the issue is not even that the bus is not there but that it is there and is full. Some of the buses in my area have, bizarrely, been changed from double deck to single deck and are now rammed with people. They are leaving people waiting on the side of the road. Will the Minister of State tell the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that I would like him to engage with the NTA regarding the letter that was sent on 21 September by the Lusk action group? It is a very measured letter and they are very careful in it to talk about those things that are working. It is a very simple ask. If something is working and is getting people to and from appointments, into school and into work, we are asking simply for more of that. We appreciate that big projects are planned but in the meantime it is the smaller projects that will make a huge difference for people living in Lusk, Skerries, Balbriggan and the surrounding areas. I ask the Minister of State to take that back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan.

Deputy Josepha Madigan

I thank the Deputy and I have noted her concerns, especially around safe active travel which of course is hugely important. We want to incentivise people to be able to cycle as opposed to using their vehicle. I will bring that to the attention of the Minister because obviously one should be in a position to be able to cycle through the constituency when needed. I am not familiar with the 33X but I will bring that to the attention of the Minister and the Ministers of State in the Department also.

The Deputy referred to double and single deck buses. I will also bring that point to the Minister. I will of course ask the Minister to engage with the Lusk action group, which the Deputy has asked for. I also note the Deputy's comments around smaller projects.

For the Deputy's information, there has not been any delay in relation to MetroLink. The focus now is to secure Government decision gate 2 approval to allow that project to proceed to tendering. That is the intention of the Government as I understand it. There were some delays in relation to BusConnects because firstly there was a huge public consultation process. That process required time and the issues raised during it also required time for further design work. I understand this was a very positive process. There were also some delays around Covid-19 impacts and there were also delays around the roll-out of elements of the network redesign due to issues with driver recruitment. Just more recently, work on the construction of the core bus corridors had to be postponed due to delays at An Bord Pleanála. Because of these delays, construction of the Clongriffin core bus corridor, the first scheme expected to go to gateway decision 2 in 2023, has been pushed back to 2024. This is just for the Deputy's own information because I am aware of her concerns around the buses.

I note the Deputy's comments and her contribution today and I will bring it the attention of the Department and the Ministers.

Air Quality

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

I was at the national ploughing championships last week and I was challenged by a man. It was a very interesting discussion and proof that real humans are much nicer than Twitter humans, if we needed such proof. He challenged me on the restriction on the burning of turf and smoky coal and questioned whether it was a green issue or a health issue. I very strongly made the case that it is both and that one does not need to be exclusive of the other. We know the implications of burning fossil fuels in general, be it to power our cars or to heat our homes, and the impact it has on air quality.

It was timely when I saw the EPA report land on Monday morning. It tells us that in 2022, air monitoring results from EPA stations across Ireland showed that fine particulate matter, mainly from the burning of solid fuel in homes, and NO2, mainly from road traffic, remain the main threats to good air quality here. High levels of harmful particulate matter are being recorded right across the country. This is due to two main sources, as I said, namely, the burning of solid fuels in our homes for cooking or heating, and high levels of nitrogen dioxide associated with road traffic. Dr. Micheál Lehane, director of the EPA's office of radiation protection and environmental monitoring, said in response to the report that the EPA's air quality monitoring has shown that Ireland met all of its EU legal requirements in 2022 but, crucially, did not meet the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines for health. Our clean air strategy commits to going above and beyond those EU legal guidelines, and to taking into full consideration the new WHO guideline limits.

Particulate matter, in particular PM2.5, which is the finest of particulate matters, has a real and significant impact on health outcomes and mortality rates across the EU. That is what both the EPA report and a Guardian report showed. The Guardian report took a European-wide context. Across Europe, fine particulate matter is accounting for some 400,000 excess deaths per year. In Ireland, the EPA estimates that at about 1,400. We stopped the world for Covid, which was entirely right and correct, to prevent that kind of excess mortality. To think that 400,000 people across Europe are dying due to poor air quality really should spur us into more action than we are currently seeing.

It is not just about the mortalities, either. It is also about the impact on health and well-being. We know that this type of particulate matter air pollution is particularly associated with the likes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, and asthma. We have some very stark figures in Ireland where asthma rates are among the highest in Europe. There are 8,000 asthma admissions to hospital each year, and 2.4 million asthma GP consultations each year. Every four minutes someone in Ireland visits an emergency department with asthma. Every six days one person in Ireland dies of asthma. It is not just that. The particulate matter is so small that it passes through the body very easily. It passes through the barrier of the lungs and enters into the bloodstream. We find it turning up in people's heart, lung and brain tissue. Polluted air increases the risk for people with cancer, diabetes, cognitive impairment and dementia. Even low birth rate can be associated with it. The evidence for this is robust and getting stronger.

We have brought in a clean air strategy with 26 key measures across six strands. What progress has been made on our clean air strategy so that we can reduce drastically those numbers of people impacted by the quality of the air on this island?

Deputy Josepha Madigan

I thank the Deputy for his question which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Clean air is fundamental to our well-being and quality of life and is essential for the health of the environment on which we depend. People have no choice about the air they breathe. We have an important role in developing the policies that will deliver clean air, hence the high priority given to improving Ireland’s air quality in the current programme for Government.

Our choices in how we heat our homes and move around our neighbourhoods have the greatest impact on the air we and our communities breathe. This empowers us all to make positive changes that will give us immediate health benefits. The most recent EPA report again shows that while our overall air quality is generally good, there remains a number of localised issues of concern. Official assessment of Ireland’s air quality against these limits and guidelines is conducted using data from the national ambient air quality monitoring programme, AAMP, which is funded by this Department and operated and maintained by the EPA. Monitoring air pollution is essential to help us better understand where issues are arising so that we may ensure national measures are in place to deliver air pollution reductions and also look to target policy measures to those areas with specific issues.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has provided funding for a significant upgrade to the monitoring network in recent years. The number of monitoring stations has increased from 29 to 111 since 2017 and will reach 116 in the coming months, which is well above EU requirements of 30 stations. Additional stations are not required for the national network as we are now moving to a modelling and forecasting system through the Life Emerald project. This will allow us to use the information from our monitoring network to provide near-real-time mapping of air pollutants throughout the country which will fill in the gaps between monitoring stations and provide a national three-day air quality forecast. The project will improve Ireland’s ambient air quality management capabilities and develop a system that will provide better information to the public.

It is essential that we use the data from our official national monitoring network to focus on implementation and enforcement of the policy measures introduced to achieve air pollution reductions. The Deputy mentioned nitrogen dioxide. Ireland recorded an exceedance for nitrogen dioxide in 2019 at the St. John’s Road West monitoring station in Dublin 8 when emissions were just above the annual limit of 40 micrograms per cubic metre. In response to this, the urban transport-related air pollution, UTRAP, working group was established and the four Dublin local authorities came together to develop an air quality management plan for the area. That group has acted as a valuable forum for engagement and co-operation between the key urban transport and air quality stakeholders. It has enhanced awareness among stakeholders of clean air legislation and has facilitated increased co-ordination and coherence between the policies, plans and strategies developed by each of the members concerning air pollution control. Since 2019, no official exceedance of the EU limits has been observed.

However, our ambition to move to the WHO guidelines levels means newer targets will be extremely difficult to achieve so long as petrol- and diesel-fuelled vehicles remain in widespread use, particularly in urban areas.

In April this year, the Department published the clean air strategy the Deputy mentioned. This will provide an overarching policy framework within which clean air policies can be formulated and given effect in a manner consistent with national, EU and international policy considerations and priorities.

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

I thank the Minister of State for taking my question. I am going to start with something that has become a common refrain in this Chamber by saying I am disappointed the senior Minister was not present to take the question. While I understand the Minister of State is very competent, this particular issue lies outside her competence in terms of her ministerial duties.

We must face up to the fact that although we might not have an exceedance of the EU limit, this is not the limit we are aspiring to. We are aspiring to the WHO limit, which is lower and would give better health outcomes, including decreasing excess mortality and the incidence of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, that have such life-limiting impacts on people across the country.

We should pay attention to who exactly tends to suffer from these conditions. Very often, it is the older housewife who sat at the fireside. Much of this particulate matter actually stays in the home, so those who spend the most time in the home are most likely to be exposed to it. It is also kids at the school gates. This is where we really see a concentration of nitrogen dioxide gases. Kids are at the right wrong height in terms of getting out of the car and being exposed to the exhaust fumes as they make their way to and from school. It is very serious that 1,400 people are losing their lives and that we are having this increase in asthma, COPD and other respiratory diseases. This concentration of gases also particularly impacts some of the most vulnerable people in our society, so we should pay even more attention to it.

I would like to see an awareness-raising campaign concerning the dangers of idling, especially at school gates. I do not mean parents standing around having a chat about the teachers inside, but the idling of engines and the impact this has on air quality where some of our most vulnerable young people are going to and from their places of work. I would like to see the clean air communications strategy group expedited. This can be part of combating this situation, and it is one of the key measures promised. I would also like to see some sort of progress being made towards the development of the clean air Act, which is again mentioned in these key measures. There is much work yet to do in this area and it is very important because it impacts people's lives.

Deputy Josepha Madigan

I thank the Deputy. I will certainly bring the points he raised in his contribution to the senior Minister and the Ministers of State in the Department. Regarding the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines, the strategy commits us to achieving the interim target by 2026, the IT4 target by 2030 and the achievement of the final WHO air quality guideline values by 2040. I note what the Deputy said around the clean air communications group. I will bring this to the attention of the Minister. He also mentioned the clean air Act and a public awareness campaign perhaps being of merit. I also note what he said, and I concur, regarding the risk of COPD and asthma in the population. The Deputy mentioned a figure of 400,000 deaths across Europe.

It is important that all these points are taken into account when we are trying to tackle air pollution. It is important to say as well that the project's findings mirror the annual air quality in Ireland reports from the EPA by stating that while air quality in Ireland is generally good, there are some localised issues. This is not just an issue in Ireland but also in other countries around the world. It is important, though. The Deputy also mentioned that our clean air strategy does commit to going above the WHO guidelines and this must be taken into account as well. I will certainly bring the Deputy's contribution to the attention of the senior Minister.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 9.55 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 10 a.m.

Sitting suspended at 9.55 a.m. and resumed at 10 a.m.