Municipal District: 17th January 2020

Question: Can the council confirm its plans with regard to monitoring air quality in the Celbridge-Leixlip Municipal District in 2020? 

Report: There is an air quality monitoring station in Celbridge which monitors particulate matter (PM2.5 & PM10 ) on a real time basis. The air quality is generally compliant with the Air Quality Standards. 

The council, in collaboration with the EPA and the HSE, plan to add a further air quality monitoring station during 2020 in Leixlip. The EPA manage the National Ambient Air Quality Network and the real time data from the air quality monitoring stations can be accessed at the following link: https://www.epa.ie/air/quality/localairqualitydata/ 

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Follow up: I asked if further information could be provided on the location of the monitor (‘Osiris’ monitor), how the information is used, what happens if the monitor shows air quality exceeds health guidelines, how the information will inform actions in the climate adaptation strategy and other climate actions at Council level. These questions were beyond the protocol of a question but Council said they will provide further information.

A further question that needs to be address is to what extent the monitor is helpful in understanding pockets of significant local are pollution that the current community citizen-science project is highlighting.

Interestingly the EPA report only provides a screenshot of latest readings. The data are not interactive nor downloadable so that we can see full readings since the Osiris monitor was installed in 2019. I aim to follow up with the EPA with a question on this, and with the aim of having the information made available and easily accessible.

The additional information that the Council provides will be posted here. Please comment if you have questions or need clarification in how to read the data.