The Green Party has called on Minister Richard Bruton to take urgent action in response to an alarming report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warning of dangerous levels of air pollution in many towns across the country. The Party was responding to a joint reportfrom the HSE and the EPA detailing the links between daily incidents of poor air quality and increased hospital admissions for lung and heart conditions.Green Party By-Election Candidate for Dublin Mid-West, Cllr Peter Kavanagh said: “As a social gerontologist who has been working with older people for more than a decade, I know that older people in particular are at greater risk of COPD and other respiratory conditions due to air pollution. At time when our health services, and hospitals in particular, are under extreme pressure, it is inexcusable that Government is once again bowing to vested interests at the expense of ordinary people.”Green Party MEP for Dublin, Ciarán Cuffe said: “We know that air pollution is causing almost 1,200 premature deaths in Ireland every year. These figures from the EPA show extremely worrying spikes in fine particulate matter (PM) in towns across Ireland, brought about by the burning of smoky coal. We know that in parts of Dublin, including Marino, Goldenbridge and Ballyfermot, PM levels were ten times higher than the WHO guidelines at certain times.“The EPA has stated that a nationwide ban on smoky coal is the only way to begin to tackle the air pollution problem across the country. It is unacceptable that Minister Bruton is delaying the introduction of a nationwide ban on the sale of smoky coal due to the threat of legal action by the coal lobby. It is time for Minister Bruton to lawyer up and challenge the coal lobby head on. If he doesn’t take action people will continue to die.”ENDS Issued and uploaded 24th November 2019