Air and Water Pollution
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-15
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Noel Grealish (IND), Galway West

I thank Deputy Murphy for his input this morning on this important issue. Although ambient air quality in Ireland is recognised as being among the best in Europe, there is no safe level of air pollution. There are policies and legislation in place to ensure that we continue to strive to minimise the impact of air pollution on our citizens and the environment.
Local authorities are independent statutory bodies which are key in tackling gorse fires and air pollution more generally. They are supported by policy and legislation to carry out the necessary actions within their functional areas. We need to continue to support our local authorities in their work, both in dealing with localised incidents and also more generally supporting them to implement relevant measures in the clean air strategy to protect our air quality in Ireland.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank the local authority and fire brigade personnel on the ground who are at the coalface dealing with such fires. As the Deputy will be aware, a lot of these fires happen all over the country, not just in his local area. It is an issue that affects the air we breathe. I compliment the fire brigade. In all fairness, sometimes fire brigade personnel are out for 24 hours trying to quench these gorse fires. Some of these fires are started deliberately, although I do not know why, while others are started by nature, but they have a huge impact on the air we breathe, particularly if they are near a town or village. The first thing people must try to do is close all the windows. Smoke eventually gets in, however.
I will bring this matter to the attention of both the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. Deputy Murphy said that the petition has been submitted to the Department for Health. I will ensure the Minister sees and reads it. I will ask her to come back directly to the Deputy on this matter. I thank him for raising the issue.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:13+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-15