New research has revealed solid fuel burning is a bigger threat to Ireland's air quality than emissions from vehicle exhausts.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) latest air quality report states while Ireland did not exceed any legal EU limit values in 2016 for ambient air quality, the country's particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide levels were above the World Health Organisation's (WHO) guideline values at a number of monitoring stations.

In addition, concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were above European Environment Agency (EEA) reference levels.

In response, the EPA has launched a new programme, the 'National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme 2017-2022', which aims to significantly increase the availability of localised real-time air quality information, enabling the public to make informed decisions and better inform national and regional policymakers.

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Laura Burke, Director General of the EPA, said around 1,500 premature deaths in Ireland during 2014 are "directly attributable" to air pollution, mainly due to cardiopulmonary and respiratory health impacts from particulate matter.

"It has become increasingly clear that there are no safe level of pollutants and with this in mind, it is time to tackle the biggest issue impacting on air quality in Ireland – emissions from solid fuels in our small towns around the country," she said.

"While the EU has introduced and implemented a range of legal instruments to improve air quality, these standards are still not in line with the tighter WHO air quality guidelines. The EPA again calls for movement towards the adoption of these stricter guidelines, especially for particulates and ozone, as legal and enforceable standards across Europe and in Ireland."

The new national Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (AAMP) is built around three key themes;

• A greatly expanded national monitoring network with 38 new automatic monitoring stations, providing enhanced real-time information to the public

• Modelling and forecasting capability, to provide an ongoing air quality forecast to the public

• Encouraging greater understanding and involvement of the public in air quality issues utilising citizen engagement and citizen science initiatives

Patrick Kenny, EPA Air Quality Manager, said the AAMP will "significantly improve" the availability of localised real-time air quality information to enable the public to make informed decisions and better inform national and regional policymakers.

"A key part of the approach to tackling these issues is better engagement with the public on the topic of air quality," he said.

"The first step in this process is improved access to air quality data and information."

(LM)