Air quality in Ireland is generally good however there are localised issues in some of our cities, towns and villages. There was an exceedance of the EU annual average legal limit values in 2019 at one urban traffic station in Dublin due to pollution from transport. Ireland was also above World Health Organization air quality guidelines at 33 monitoring sites across the country – mostly due to the burning of solid fuel in our cities, towns and villages. Ireland was above the European Environment Agency reference level for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), a toxic chemical, at 4 monitoring sites due to the burning of solid fuel.
What are the problem pollutants?
Particulate matter from the burning of solid fuel – is estimated to cause 1,300 premature deaths per year. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from transport emissions is polluting our urban areas. Indications are that we will exceed EU limit values for NO2 at further monitoring stations in the future.