Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2005
827 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if, through the Environmental Protection Agency or the Health Service Executive, he receives weekly reports in respect of air pollution, as identified through the various monitoring points throughout the country; the extent to which action is required arising therefrom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22773/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraAir quality assessment is the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and air quality management a matter for local authorities informed by air quality measurement data. The EPA has a statutory duty under the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2002 to make information available on ambient concentrations of all pollutants under the scope of the regulations. The EPA website provides real-time, publicly accessible, data from a number of monitoring stations nationally which allows the public to gauge air quality in relation to current EU and national standards. Alert thresholds for certain pollutants are in place for the purpose of triggering immediate action by the agency to inform the public where such thresholds are exceeded.
Where the indicative level for any pollutant has been exceeded, the 2002 regulations place primary responsibility, following notification by the agency, on the relevant local authorities for the development of long term air quality management plans to ensure compliance with the thresholds for the relevant pollutant or pollutants. To date, no local authority has been notified by the agency to prepare such plans.
Where there is a future risk of a pollutant threshold being exceeded and the agency considers measures are likely to be needed in the short term, the agency is expected to notify the relevant local authorities to prepare a short-term air pollution action plan to reduce the risk of a threshold being exceeded. The agency has on just one occasion to date on 20 April 2005, notified a local authority, Dublin City Council, of the need to prepare a short-term air pollution action plan to address a likely future exceedance of particulate matter at one monitoring station based on a comparison of the 2003 monitoring data with the limit values applying from 1 January 2005.
The EPA's air quality and emissions to air report 2003 contains details of the monitoring and assessment of national air quality and incorporates data from all air quality monitoring stations operated by the EPA and local authorities. The report states that the limit values for pollutants under the EU directives on ambient air quality were not exceeded in 2003. The report is available in the Oireachtas Library.
