“That the Environmental Protection Agency would set up a permanent air quality monitoring station at a representative location in Cork Harbour.  That this air quality monitoring station would be capable of measuring concentrations of all the parameters for which limit values in ambient air have been set by Directive 2008/50/EC, including particulate matter.  Cork Harbour is one of the most important industrial areas in Ireland, significant at a worldwide level within the pharmaceutical industry and a major port.  Although Cork Harbour and its immediate environs is home to 44,000 people and an employment hub for over 10,000 people, there is currently no ambient air monitoring in Cork Harbour.”

 Cllr D’Alton’s introduction to the motion:

There are two European directives, one dating from 2001 and the other from 2008, which are designed to look after the quality of the air we breathe. Every time we breathe we are in direct contact with the external environment. The lung, in fact, is really the only one of our organs that is in direct contact with the environment.