Does Dublin need to do more to tackle air pollution?

wakka12

After reading an article online linking the negative health effects and air pollution I decided to look up what Dublins air quality is rated out of curiosity. I assumed as a relatively small city with plenty of green space and moderate population density and mild climate (no excessive heating or cooling used in houses) and little heavy industry in or near the city would have great quality air.

But according to this map, DUblins air quality is slightly worse than central London's(which I would have considered a very polluted city when I visited) and central Paris and has air which is roughly twice as polluted as in comparable cities such as Oslo, Copenhagen and Malmo, Stockholm and Helsinki. Dublins air quality is considered 'good' but is very close to being in the moderate range

https://aqicn.org/map/world/

Polar101

Does Dublin do anything to tackle air pollution? It's a very car oriented city, "everyone" has a diesel car and even when people are going to a gardening festival in the park, they drive.

odyssey06

'Dublin' had nothing to do with the tax benefit of diesel cars, if by Dublin you mean Dublin local government.

JupiterKid

Dublin had a very serious smog problem in the decades prior to the 1990s due to smoky coal from house fires in the winter months, but that was resolved with the ban on smoky coal in 1990.

These days I would imagine the air pollution in the city is caused by car exhaust fumes. I have to say in recent years I’ve never found the air quality in Dublin to be poor.

whiskeyman

I've really noticed it a lot in the past year or two.
The volume of cars on the road and traffic has had a huge impact.
Some mornings the smell of fumes is awful.
I pity those on bikes and also all the pedestrians along those roads. It's apparently worse for young kids / those in prams as they are lower down near the fumes.
Smog was something you could really see and it's great action was taken, but the current problem is more hidden. It's literally killing thousands every year, and we're just not acting on it.

DoraDelite

I've also noticed this in the last couple of years as a pedestrian it has gotten really bad. I changed my route to work a few months ago because of it and now I walk more sides streets and canals to avoid the fumes.

Thelonious Monk

It's a filthy city, I have to cycle through the crap every day. There is no room allocated for pedestrians or cyclists it's a carcentric city.
That's Baggot St below, you can barely wait on the path in parts for traffic to go by, and at peak lunchtime you still have to wait AGES for the lights to change there at Merrion Row and Ely Place, meanwhile crowds dangerously gather on the limited footpath space.

We won't have decent public transport any time soon and the Government doesn't seem to care about cleaning up the city and getting cars out, so I don't even know if these things are worth discussing, we need politicians with vision and guts, we have none of these and the system means nothing will ever change.

CrankyHaus

TBF some great improvements have been made:

Smoky coal ban - me and my siblings have asthma as a result of the smog Dublin had when we were young.

Dublin Port Tunnel removing trucks from the city centre - I remember walking to school there'd be trucks backed up across all 4 lanes of the quays, stopped across pedestrian crossings and junctions and you'd have to weave through them while crossing. The traffic now doesn't compare to that for air pollution.

It's hard to match the likes of Norway on environmental issues.
I think DCC should consider (and not just for airquality reasons) :

Some scheme for city centre deliveries to be made during set times. I appreciate this would be very difficult to implement but the current set up is chaotic and relies on delivery men breaking the law and parking illegally with total abandon. Maybe start with a rates rebate for businesses that engage in the scheme and expand it from there. I'm sure there are succesful examples elsewhere to implement.

More cycling infrastructure, less car routes.

kenmm

Its really crap at the moment.

The construction, the traffic and other points made above contribute to a really crap city air quality.

I also think the 'Irish' factor plays a role - consider -

Who really cares about old sooty cars and trucks? "Sure, just remove the DPF and ye will be grand for a couple of years (until next NCT, IF the NCT is done at all)

"Sure who cares about ripping down the old building full of asbestos and feck knows what"

Ah sure we'll ban trucks - but to get a city truck permit it costs buttons (A Tenner!)

Ah sure lets cut down the few trees we have left lining the streets as it costs a couple more quid to maintain.


Dublin is really fu(ked right now and the powers that be dont give a ****e. People dont even bother reporting issues because there is no point.

kenmm

And even here - the mere suggestion of reporting a dodgy truck with piss poor exhaust is mocked:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057986428

Atlantic Dawn

There's no checking of cars at NCT where DPF has been removed there's no checking of trucks for Ad Blue defeat devices, whole system is a joke, air in the city is toxic as a result.

kenmm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

There's no checking of cars at NCT where DPF has been removed

Serious?

Wouldn't they fail emissions? Doesn't matter anyway I guess the Irish have a very cavalier attitude to all things official when it comes to driving (Driving tests, learner permits, tax insurance, NCT...)

Atlantic Dawn

kenmm wrote: »

Serious?

Wouldn't they fail emissions? Doesn't matter anyway I guess the Irish have a very cavalier attitude to all things official when it comes to driving (Driving tests, learner permits, tax insurance, NCT...)

Unless there's visible black smoke no they won't, there's no actual measure of emissions from a diesel car at NCT, visible check only. In the UK checking for DPF removal is part of MOT since last year, here it it not.


https://www.hypermiler.co.uk/dpf-diesel-particulate-filter/uk-government-gets-tough-on-dpf-tampering-updated-mot-test-coming-20th-may-2018