Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 July 2024
137. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if the Environmental Protection Agency has future plans to expand the monitoring of permanent air quality testing systems on site in Drogheda south; if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30629/24]
View answerThe national air quality monitoring network is operated, maintained, and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (AAMP), which is funded by my Department. The EPA decide the most appropriate locations for monitors based on best practice and EU requirements, and questions in relation to proposed sites may be addressed to them directly.
A significant upgrade to the AAMP network was undertaken in recent years, funded by my Department. As a consequence, the number of monitoring stations has increased from 29 in 2017 to 116 today - three times greater than the number required under the EU Air Quality Directive.
All stations collect air quality data for a range of pollutants to provide information to the public, and for assessment against European legal limit values and World Health Organisation guideline values.
The AAMP is supported by a new air quality modelling and forecasting facility developed under the LIFE EMERALD project. This new facility fills in the map between monitoring stations reducing the need to further expand our monitoring network. Details of the locations of all monitoring stations currently in operation, along with real-time and historic data from each station, can be found at the website, www.airquality.ie.
The EPA produce an annual report on Air Quality which provides an overview of the quality of our air and key issues that impact upon it.
An updated AAQD is expected later this year and may require the installation of additional stations. This will be assessed by the EPA in due course.
Officials from my Department meet regularly with EPA colleagues to discuss the operation of, and findings from, the network so that they feed into future policy development through the implementation of the Clean Air Strategy to ensure that we meet the requirements set out in the strategy.
