Polluted Air and Public Health

Part 2 of Topical Issue on EPA Report on Air Quality in Ireland 2022

Full Transcript
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.