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A NATIONWIDE BAN on smoky coal has been delayed by the government amid threats of legal action from the coal industry.
Minister for Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton confirmed that the government was delaying the introduction of a ban on harmful, bituminous coal this week.
A ban on the sale of smoky coal was first introduced in Dublin in 1990. The ban was extended in 2012 and is now in effect in 26 urban areas nationwide. According to Bruton, it has “proved very effective in reducing particulate matter and sulphur dioxide levels and has had the effect of significantly improving public health”.
“Research indicates, for example, that the ban has resulted in over 350 fewer annual deaths in Dublin alone.”
After discussing the issue with the Attorney General, however, Bruton has now confirmed that his department is working to finalise “a legally robust plan which will improve air quality by reducing particulate matter in the air”.
“Pending the completion of this work I am aware of the need to provide clarity now to the public and to the trade to enable them adequately plan for purchases of stock for the 2019-20 heating season,” Bruton told Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae in reply to a Dáil question.
A full ban was due to come into effect from Autumn this year. “I can confirm therefore that the current ban on bituminous coal will not be extended nationwide for the 2019-20 heating season,” Bruton said.
The minister did not indicate when the ban is now likely to come into effect.
The nationwide smoky coal ban was first announced by Labour TD Alan Kelly in 2015, who was Environment Minister at the time.
In 2017, Bruton’s predecessor Denis Naughten said the ban on the sale and distribution of smoky coal would not be introduced immediately but that there’d be a 12 month period for the industry to “wash through” existing stock.
The Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly highlighted that air quality is significantly worse in smaller towns during the winter months because large quantities of solid fuel are being burned.
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People’s health vs the coal industry, small towns, villages and rural areas have dirtier air than large towns and cities, the choice should be a simple one, will commercial interests win out yet again?
@Charles Coughlan: a bit prone to exaggeration are we?
@Brendan Hughes: studies have shown that rural towns have a higher level of coal generated particulate matter than urban centres which have the ban. Although, you also have to factor in higher rates of alternative fossil fuel sources, such a gas, in those urban locations.
What I can’t understand is that if it is legal to have such a ban in those urban centres, and the industry has been given fair warning of its extension, what legal issue is only cropping up now?
@Vocal Outrage: Was wondering much the same thing. Anybody got any idea about what grounds the coal industry could mount a legal challenge upon? And does it mean that the existing bans in Dublin and other places around the country might be legally unsound too?
@Charles Coughlan: not sure where you get your information from but https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/air/quality/Air%20Quality%20In%20Ireland%202017.pdf says otherwise
@Niall dunne: Probably from the link you posted which shows exactly that. Burning solid fuel is the biggest threat to health, and Dublin has better air quality than towns where burning dirty coal is permitted.
@Brendan Hughes: Only what I read in the national papers, maybe they are now also spewing “fake news”
@Charles Coughlan: I suppose I’ll tune in next week to find out. Same bat time, same bat channel.
@Charles Coughlan: the ESB continues to burn vast amounts of coal and turf. Hit the private individual again I see.
Oh look, a ban on something as opposed to another tax. Jesus, no wonder they’re delaying it … too much sense being made
Who comes up with stuff?
You have to love these pie in the sky research figures that speculatively measure smoky coal pollution by putting a number of dead bodies against it.
And at the same time you’re unlikely to see a “death report” due to fatally long hospital procedure waiting lists.
@Milk The Drones: “Over 350 will die due to hospital overcrowding” – a headline from a press release this morning, which was covered by many of the mainstream media.
Which means youre just spouting vacuous outrage. Quelle surprise!
@Milk The Drones: apart from your valid point around hospitals, are you saying dirty air doesn’t kill people? Or are you disputing the figures as not accurate?
@Milk The Drones: It’s not “pie in the sky.” It’s decades of well-attested research. The effect of particulate pollution on life-span is well-known.
It does burn way better…
Who the heck is the “Coal industry” is it based in the coal mines of Tullamore employing thousands of workers??
@Dotty Dunleary: It’s a bit like our ‘motor industry’ which in any other country is the ‘motor trade’.
Look at Enniscorthty or New Ross both low lying towns in valleys and on cold days when everyone has a fire lit it’s like a scene from the industrial revolution. I pity the people there with asthma or copd etc. But the real issue is not the coal industry kicking up its the pharma industry you can’t suddenly have lots of people not requiring as much drugs that would harm the bottom line of the pharmaceutical companies.
@In my opinion: Couldn’t agree more, Enniscorthy in particular is very bad
Oh well – live in a city polluted with vehicle fumes or in the country polluted with coal fumes. Really makes little sense actually to have different rules for the countryside. . .
Still banning it in the city was a great step forward in working on air quality.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: Yet on another post you are against EVs which eliminate ground level pollution until all our coal, gas, oil and peat power stations are eliminated which will never happen.
So either you welcome the elimination of street level particle, SOx & NOx emissions or you don’t ….which is it ???
Let the government come up with a cheaper cleaner way of heating our homes then.
@Dave Barrett: there is a cleaner way. PV cells on your roof or a wind turbine in your garden. Ground source heat pumps for heating your home etc the technology is there, but it will take 99% grants to implement them at the moment.
cough, cough, cough – ban it!
Money point power station burns 2 million ton of coal per year , and not a word about it.
Middle class people trying to keep there family warm , and there want us to stop
This government needs to go , and quickly
@Martin ryan: I loves me stove sit in front any day instead of a tv
@Martin ryan: Because Moneypoint exhausts 218m high from chimneys packed with scrubbers.
Domestic chimneys exhaust coal smoke at street level killing our citizens.
It was 3 degrees C above freezing in the Arctic last week, the Arctic is on its last legs – it helpS cool the planet down, and keep frozen methane locked in the permafrost but no more. As one scientist said “[If] you put your oven on at home, and set it to 200C, the temperature doesn’t get to that immediately,” Prof Siegert said. “It takes a bit of time, and it’s the same with the climate.
@GO GREEN: my windscreen was frozen solid this morning – and all my neighbours too – that probably offsets the arctic this week
To clarify it’s actually threats of legal action from the coal suppliers in the north. Very little resistance from suppliers down south now as they have either exited the business or invested in plants to produce smokeless fuel and also biomass products.
DISGRACE FULL DECISION..AN OUTRIGHT BAN IS NEEDED
Death to the coal industry.
have your say