Air pollution from traffic dropped by as much as 50% last year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows fine particulate matter from burning fossil fuels remains the biggest contributor to poor air quality.
Programme Manager with the EPA, Patrick Byrne, says their use in localised areas is a particular issue; “I suppose the challenging aspect is that Ireland was still above World Health Organisation air quality guidelines for a particular matter which is associated mostly to the burning of solid fuels in villages, towns and smaller cities”.
He adds “2020 was obviously influenced dramatically by restrictions associated with Covid and as a result, air pollution from traffic fell at all monitoring stations particularly those associated with urban areas and roadside locations”.
