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Ambient Air Quality Monitoring in Ireland

 

The EPA is the competent authority for ambient air quality monitoring in Ireland. Limits are set for the following substances under the Clean Air for Europe Directive (2008) and the Fourth Daughter Directive (2007); Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Ozone, Carbon Monoxide, PM10, PM2.5, Lead, Benzene, Arsenic, Cadmium, Nickel, Mercury and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

The results of this monitoring are of particular importance where air dispersion modeling (ADM) is required to assess the impact of emissions from industrial activities. Baseline data needs to be included in the assessment and added to the contribution of the facility in order to arrive at the overall impact.

Ireland is divided into 4 Zones for the purposes of ambient air quality;

  • Zone A: Dublin Conurbation
  • Zone B: Cork Conurbation
  • Zone C: Other cities and large towns comprising Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Sligo,  Drogheda, Wexford, Athlone, Ennis, Bray, Naas, Carlow, Tralee, Dundalk, Navan, Letterkenny, Celbridge, Newbridge, Mullingar and Balbriggan.
  • Zone D: Rural Ireland, i.e. the remainder of the State excluding Zones A, B and C.

It is possible to check which zone you are in using the following website http://maps.epa.ie/internetmapviewer/mapviewer.aspx. Real-time air quality data is available here http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/monitoring/air/and datasets can also be downloaded.