Environmental Research Centre - ERC Report 10 - Stephan Leinert et al.
Summary: Environmental Research Centre - ERC Report 10 - Stephan Leinert et al.
Ireland is a party to a range of European and global initiatives in relation to air pollution issues, including the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), and its Gothenburg Protocol. As a member of the European Union (EU), Ireland is subject to the National Emissions Ceilings (NEC) Directive, and the Air Quality Framework Directive.
Regulatory monitoring of air pollutants covered under EU and National legislation is largely in relation to urban monitoring, and is implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local authorities. The EPA monitoring network includes suburban and rural sites. However, the monitoring of PM10 chemistry and precipitation chemistry required under the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) is outside its scope.
The requirement for a non-urban national monitoring infrastructure was pointed to by McGettigan et al. (2000). Such monitoring provides ongoing analyses of the effectiveness of international agreements in relation to transboundary air pollutants. Such monitoring also is a requirement under the Convention (CLRTAP).
The work presented here aimed to address monitoring issues highlighted by McGovern (2002), including that on a national basis air quality monitoring has developed in a “disparate and uncoordinated” manner (McGettigan et al., 2000) and that Aherne and Farrell (2000) point to significant limitations imposed on their study due to the absence of national data on atmospheric levels of acidic species.
