Air Quality Plan

Dublin Region Air Quality Plan 2021 - Air Quality Plan to improve Nitrogen Dioxide levels in Dublin Region

What We Did

The four Dublin Local Authorities – Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council are committed to protecting and enhancing air quality across the Dublin region. The exceedance of the EU limit value for nitrogen dioxide in the Dublin region in 2019 necessitated the preparation of the Dublin Region Air Quality Plan 2021 - Air Quality Plan to improve Nitrogen Dioxide levels in Dublin Region.

The final version of the Dublin Region Air Quality Plan 2021 -Air Quality Plan to improve Nitrogen Dioxide levels in Dublin Region is now complete and has been submitted to the Minster for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the EU Commission.

Why We Did It

In 2019, there was an exceedance of the annual limit value for nitrogen dioxide at one of the air quality monitoring stations – St. Johns Road West, Dublin 8.  All other pollutants measured were within EU limit values. When an exceedance is found, there is a formal process to inform the European Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They then issued a formal notification to the local authorities concerned to prepare the plan.            

The EPA informed the Local Authorities of the need for the new plan for nitrogen dioxide exceedance in December 2020 and a team representing the four Dublin Local Authorities was assembled and prepared the final Plan.

The Dublin Region Air Quality Plan 2021 - Air Quality Plan to improve Nitrogen Dioxide levels in Dublin Region was subject to public consultation, which gave interested members of the public the opportunity to share their views and input to the plan, which is now complete and was issued to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the EU Commission by the end of 2021.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) reports and determinations and are available to view below.