Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

292 Chapter 11: Environment and Transport 5 www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/2021-12/dublin-region-air-quality-plan-2021.pdf (accessed 30 July 2024). In addition to the five key air pollutants to which NEC Directive emission reduction commitments apply, the EPA’s air pollutant emissions report also highlights the trends in emissions of other pollutants such as carbon monoxide, lead, dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (EPA, 2024c). Emissions of most of these pollutants have greatly decreased since 1990 because of measures such as banning leaded fuel, the introduction of catalytic converters and the move away from solid fuel for residential heating. The general trend in emissions of these pollutants is downwards, and the EPA reported that the changes in the age structure of the national vehicle fleet have had a positive impact. Impacts of air pollutants on the quality of the air we breathe The European Environment Agency estimates that there are in excess of 1600 premature deaths in Ireland every year (EEA, 2023) due to poor air quality from causes including cardiovascular disease and respiratory illnesses. Diesel vehicles are implicated in causing roughly 70 of these deaths and a loss of 3.8 years of healthy life across the affected population (Gallagher et al. , 2021). Further research suggests that prohibiting older diesel vehicles and ceasing their sales from 2025 could halve NO x and PM 2.5 emissions by 2030 (relative to 2015 figures), thereby preserving 300 years of healthy living and generating savings of €43.8 million (Dey et al. , 2018). Figure 11.13 highlights the historical trends in NOx emissions. In 2019, there was an exceedance of the annual permissible limit value for nitrogen dioxide at one monitoring station (St John’s Road West) in Dublin. There were no other exceedances recorded elsewhere for nitrogen dioxide or any other air pollutant during 2019. The breach obliged the relevant local authorities to prepare an air quality plan to identify the root causes and formulate measures to address the exceedance by the end of 2021. The resulting plan set out 14 measures to address the issue. One key measure set out in the plan was the integration of a ‘15-minute neighbourhood’ concept in city and county development plans developed for Dublin local authorities in their 2022–2028 development plans. 5 Transport is not causing any ongoing breaches of current air quality standards, and there were no exceedances of air quality standards recorded at any monitoring station in the national ambient air quality monitoring network in 2020, 2021 or 2022. As outlined in Chapter 2, achieving Ireland’s ambition, set out in the Clean Air Strategy, to move to tighter air quality guidelines will be extremely challenging but will have a significant positive impact on health. Environmental noise Environmental noise in our towns and cities is increasing, and excessive noise from transport sources is a health risk, with effects on sleep and cardiovascular and metabolic function, in addition to the nuisance caused. Exposure to noise from road traffic, railways, aircraft and industry is estimated to cause 10,600 premature deaths each year in Europe (EEA, 2022). It is estimated that 18.4 million people experience chronically high