A suite of new EU Directives setting out a completely new approach to the monitoring, assessment and management of air quality has been adopted in recent years.
The objectives include avoiding, preventing and reducing the impact of harmful air emissions on human health and the environment.
Ireland does not have serious outdoor air quality problems. This is largely due to the eradication of the burning of coal in many urban areas during the 1980s and the early 1990s.
The biggest threat now facing our air quality is emissions from road traffic.
The implementation of pollution abatement measures in the form of air quality management plans or short-term traffic restrictions, should these prove to be necessary, would be a major new challenge for local authorities.
Air pollution can affect the health and well-being of sensitive population groups and eco-systems.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has overall responsibility for the co-ordination of ambient air quality monitoring in Ireland in accordance with these EU Directives.
The EPA and local authorities operate monitoring stations, and you can search for more detailed information for each station on the Access Maps pages (see below).
The National Air Quality Monitoring Programme sets out the basic framework for the measurement of air quality in Ireland over the coming years. It provides the basis for continued development and expansion of monitoring and assessment for a variety of purposes.
Under Section 65 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992, the EPA shall, after consultation with such persons or bodies as may be prescribed, prepare and implement programmes for monitoring the quality of the environment.
Such programmes must specify the nature, extent and purpose of monitoring, the persons or bodies which will carry out the monitoring, the resources required and the arrangements for the dissemination and publication of results.
Check the Access Maps for information for each monitoring station, and download recent air monitoring station reports
