The Green Party claim that air pollution is causing 950 premature deaths per year in Ireland.
The Green Party has called for more action from the Irish Government and local authorities with regards to urban air quality.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the party claimed that information has emerged suggesting that Irish air pollution breaches safety levels 84 times this year.
Member of the European Parliament Ciarán Cuffe took to Twitter to call out Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for a supposed lack of action with regards to air quality monitoring.
Where's that state-of-the-art air quality monitoring that Leo promised us a few years ago? Poor air leads to almost 1,000 premature deaths a year in Ireland https://t.co/NPUuZBOhln pic.twitter.com/5n6AsW5Mhw
— Ciarán Cuffe (@CiaranCuffe) June 4, 2019
Cuffe elaborated, saying: “We know that air pollution is causing 950 premature deaths per year in Ireland. The last air monitoring point in the North Inner City was closed down by the EPA last year, despite Minister Naughten promising us state-of-the-art air monitoring two years ago.
“The EPA data is a mess to navigate, and doesn’t tell us what is causing the pollution. The limited monitoring is concentrated in affluent areas. Dublin is at risk during ‘temperature inversion’ weather. We need to ramp up our monitoring (like London) and take action to reduce air pollution.
“The last air quality monitor in Dublin’s north inner city (on Coleraine Street in Dublin 7) closed last year. I want the EPA to improve their monitoring and present the data in a user-friendly manner.”
You can read the official statement released by the Green Party here.
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