GREEN Party TD Brian Leddin has called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to install more air quality monitors across the city.
This comes following an incident at the Irish Cement factory in Castlemungret that occurred in early September.
Deputy Leddin said that EPA monitoring revealed that, during the incident, “PM10 levels soared more than 50 times the limit set by EU air quality standards. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was recorded at nearly 10 times above the threshold.”
“These levels of pollution, linked to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, have raised serious concerns among local communities.”
Local communities are also calling for greater enforcement of environmental regulations to prevent future incidents.
Deputy Leddin said he was “received requests for more air pollution monitors to be installed, particularly on the west side of the city” were “the prevailing winds can skew the results when we have so few data collection points, and more recording can allow us to detect issues before they become critical”.
The Green TD is also urging Limerick City and County Council to establish the community liaison committee without delay.
In response, the EPA told the Limerick Post that it has worked in partnership with local authorities and other public bodies to greatly expand the national ambient air quality monitoring network following the launch of the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme in 2017.
“The network expansion included two national monitoring stations in Limerick City and a local monitoring station in Abbeyfeale, adding to the existing station in Askeaton,” the EPA said.
The EPA added that it has also successfully secured EU co-funding for the LIFE Emerald project, which provides a forecast of air quality for three days forward, providing modelled air quality information for the entire country.
It added that the inspection report on the Castlemungret report was to be available to the public as of October 26 on the LEAP database.
