Clean Air Strategy

Clean air is essential for our quality of life. While recent decades have seen significant improvements in air quality in Ireland, air pollution continues to cause damage to both our health and environment. A whole-of-Government commitment is required to achieve this objective as it can only be realised through our collective efforts. The changes that are required will have positive economic and societal co-benefits, including cleaner air, warmer homes, better health and lower carbon, moving towards a more sustainable economy for the longer term.

The Clean Air Strategy provides the high-level strategic policy framework necessary to identify and promote the integrated measures across government policy that are required to reduce air pollution and promote cleaner ambient air, while delivering on wider national objectives. It outlines how we will enhance and protect the quality of the air that we breathe and realise the full environmental and health benefits of cleaner air.

The aims of these key strategic frameworks are:

• To set the appropriate targets and limits to ensure continuous improvements in air quality across the country, to deliver health benefits for all
• To ensure the integration of clean air considerations into policy development across Government.
• To increase the evidence base that will help us to continue to evolve our understanding of the sources of pollution and their impacts on health, in order to address them more effectively
• To enhance regulation required to deliver improvements across all pollutants
• To improve the effectiveness of our enforcement systems
• To promote and increase awareness of the importance of clean air, and the links between cleaner air and better health
• To develop the additional targeted/specific policy measures as required to deal with national or local air quality issues

Publication of the Strategy follows a comprehensive public consultation process held during 2022, and a number of recommendations from submissions received during the consultation have been incorporated into the final document.

Implementation of the Strategy will begin immediately and progress reports on its delivery will be published annually.

The Clean Air Strategy first annual Progress Report was submitted to Government in July 2024. This report first provides a high-level overview of our progress to date in reducing national air pollution emissions and improving local air quality. It also provides a summary on some of the key areas of progress over the past year and a more detailed update on the delivery of the actions contained within the Strategy to date.