Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe has called for Ireland’s next Clean Air Strategy to focus on improvinghuman health and saving lives. He said low-emission zones in city centres, as well as lower speed limitsand better access to public transport, are important tools to achieve this.In a submission to a public consultation ran by the Department of Environment, Climate, andCommunications, Cuffe proposed measures to raise public awareness on this issue, make better use ofair quality data, and set higher national standards for air quality in line with international best practice.These measures include more real-time air monitoring and increased monitoring locations, with a focuson areas of deprivation that are inadequately covered. It also calls for mortality data linked to airpollution to be available at a community or county level. Finally, it proposes the publication of cleardata on air pollution sources to support better policy-making.“We must increase monitoring in parts of Dublin that have high levels of traffic and use of open fires.These tend to be areas of deprivation. It is unacceptable that densely populated areas such as Dublin’sNorth Inner City and Cabra have no air monitoring. This must change.”MEP Cuffe also emphasised the importance of communicating the dangers of air pollution to localcommunities to enable quick action during peak times of poor air quality:“Excess Nitrogen Oxide in the air has dangerous implications for your health, and pollution in heavilytrafficked areas of Dublin is above the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation. By increasingpublic awareness of air pollution, and improving our ability to monitor air quality at a local level, wecan make faster public health decisions. Rolling out low-emission zones in the city centre, lower speedlimits, and better access to public transport are some examples of this. A greener transport system notonly has positive impacts for our health, but for the environment at large.”MEP Cuffe’s submission to the Department of Environment, Climate and Communication’spublic consultation is available to read here: bit.ly/CufNAQ