The Cork City Council Air Quality Strategy was launched on Thursday, the 12th of August 2021.
The Air Quality Strategy outlines the actions that the Council will take to reduce the concentrations of air pollutants in the city area; thereby positively impacting on the quality of life of residents and visitors.
These actions include the expansion of walking and cycling routes, increasing access to public transport and developing green infrastructure and nature-based solutions.
These initiatives will be developed across numerous departments within the Council; they are an integral part of a larger objective; which is to make Cork City a healthy and accessible city for residents and visitors alike.
The Air Quality Strategy also builds on significant work being conducted by Cork City Council to develop a high-level air quality monitoring system.
In 2019, Cork City Council installed a network of air quality monitors at various locations across the city. The sensors measure fine dust particulate matter, which is among other things, a by-product of burning solid fuel.
This system enables Cork City Council to monitor the air quality of the city and to take swift action should there be breaches in safe levels of pollutants.
The existence of a freely available, up-to-date air monitoring system keeps citizens informed about the air quality in their area; enabling them to make informed choices about when and where to travel in the city. This is particularly applicable to people suffering from pre-existing lung and pulmonary disorders.
The network is viewable at http://corkairquality.ie/
In a recent public survey conducted by Cork City Council on attitudes towards air pollution, 97% of the 744 respondents deemed air quality as important or very important and 49.5% of respondents deemed air quality in the city as ‘occasionally poor’ or ‘generally poor’. Up to 47% of those who answered the survey are most concerned with air pollution from traffic with 17.8% citing solid fuel burning as a concern.
To view the Cork City Council Air Quality Strategy, please see:
