Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2020-12-10
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Leo Varadkar (FG), Dublin West

There has been a deterioration in air quality recently. Some of that is down to meteorological conditions, but obviously the backdrop is pollution from cars, which has probably gone down because fewer people are travelling in their cars, and the increased burning of smoky solid fuels now that more people are at home. The difficulty is that this is not just because of smoky coal. A large and growing part of it is down to people burning other solid fuels, such as wood, turf and peat briquettes. In respect of their impact on air quality, those fuels are just as bad and arguably worse, but we have decided not to ban the sale or burning of wood, turf or peat briquettes for reasons which the Deputy will understand. It would be dishonest to claim to people that a nationwide ban on smoky coal, or enforcement of that, would solve the problem of people burning the other solid fuels which are just as bad.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:55+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-12-10