A BAN ON smoky coal in the capital is going nationwide more than two decades after the measure was first introduced in the capital.
By 1990 winter smog had become a major health issue in Dublin, prompting a ban to be put in place by then Fianna Fáil junior minister Mary Harney.
Following it success, it was rolled out to Cork five years later and is now in place in 26 different towns and cities across the country.
Now Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has announced it will be extended nationwide.
“It is right to extend the benefits of the ban on smoky coal nationwide,” he said this morning.
These benefits include very significant reductions in respiratory problems and indeed mortalities from the effects of burning smoky coal.
He estimated that 8,000 lives have been saved in Dublin because of the ban, and that the health and economic benefits of a nationwide ban could be in the region of €53 million per year.
Areas where smoky coal is banned in favour of smokeless or ‘clean’ coal, which is processed to produced lower smoke levels, experience a boost in air quality, studies have shown.
The ban is due to come into effect by the end of 2018.
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