ENNIS’ AIR QUALITY has been worse than China’s capital city on occasions in the past two years but does not warrant the preparation of a management plan.
Calls for a countywide air quality plan were made by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) at successive meetings of Clare County Council who requested at the very least for a management plan of this nature to be in place for Ennis and South-East Clare prior to winter 2023.
He argued, “In light of the serious health implications of poor air quality, winter trolley crisis at UHL and the absence of a level three hospital to serve Clare people, such a plan should include for air pollution alerting to the public, better air pollution monitoring using more extensive and varied type of measurement”.
Senior engineer of the environment department of the Council, Cyril Feeney in a lengthy reply explained that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were the competent authority for implementing all Irish and European Union ambient air quality legislation.
An air monitoring station located in the former Ennis Town Council complex in Drumbiggle measures particulate matter and sulphur dioxide. The town’s PM2.5 concentration is currently 2.4 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value.
Limits specified in the EPA’s regulations are “only deemed to be breached if more than thirty five exceedances occur over a 24 hour averaging period during the entire year. Therefore, even a number of hourly readings which may exceed the nominal limit value does not necessarily mean a breach of the air quality regulations which viewed over the 24 hour averaging period and per annum basis,” Feeney outlined. He said Co Clare has not breached air quality regulations.
Restrictions on the sale of smoky fuels and the fact that all social housing schemes in the county last year were built to nearly zero energy buildings (NZEB) standards were actions to aid the air quality in the county, the engineer stated. Clare County Council adopted a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (2019-2024) and are developing a Climate Action Plan, he added.
Feeney continued, “Considering our current compliance with the air quality regulations, the real time information available from the EPA on air quality and the additional measures in place in current strategies and upcoming plans I believe there is not a separate requirement for an additional air quality plan to deal with the same issues”.
Director of Service in the Physical Development Directorate of the Council, Carmel Kirby confirmed that officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and counterparts from the EPA have agreed to meet staff from the Council to consider calls for an air quality management plan. She acknowledged that Ennis has had incidents of heavy particulate matter.
Though such a meeting is a step in the right direction, Cllr Flynn pointed out that between motions at Strategic Policy Committee and Municipal District level the calls for a plan have been ongoing for close to two years. “It has been delayed for over two years when I raised it at various stages, I’d like to be present when those officials are down,” he added.
Supporting the proposal, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) referenced a twitter feed he follows which gives details on the “particular particulates in Ennis”. He said, “it’s amazing the amount of times it is above. There’s a lot of times when this is a problem”.
