EU watchdog finds no Irish cities have good air quality 

Cork had the 38th best air quality of European cities. Picture: Denis Minihane

No Irish city was classified as having “good” air quality over the past two years, according to a new report by the EU’s environmental watchdog.

The European Environment Agency’s updated rating of air quality in cities across Europe in the period 2020-2021 found the air quality in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford only rated as “fair".

The report ranks cities from the cleanest to the most polluted on the basis of average levels of fine particulate matter (which include dust, soot and smoke) otherwise known as PM2.5 over the past two years.

A “fair” rating means the level of air pollution is just above the annual guideline recommended by the World Health Organization of 5 micrograms per cubic metre of air (µg/m³).

The report found Dublin had the best air quality among the Irish cities, ranking in 35th place overall with a particulate matter of 7.4µg/ m³ based on results from 10 monitoring stations.

It was narrowly ahead of Cork, which had the 38th best air quality of European cities with a reading of 7.5µg/m3.

Limerick was ranked in 73rd place (8.5µg/ m³) with Waterford in 130th position out of 344 European cities surveyed with 9.5µg/ m³.

The results are based on over 400 monitoring stations across 31 European countries including all 27 EU member states.

Only 11 cities were classified as having good air quality, with Umeå in Sweden and Faro and Funchal in Portugal regarded as the cleanest in Europe.

The “good” rating means their PM2.5 levels were below the WHO’s guidelines for long-term exposure to particulate matter of 5µg/m³.

In contrast, the EU’s annual limit value for particulate matter of 25µg/ m³ was only exceeded in the three most polluted cities — Nowy Sacz in Poland and Cremona and Padova in Italy.

The EEA said such findings highlighted the difference between the WHO guideline and the EU standard.

Long-term exposure to air pollution causes the most serious health effects, with PM2.5 the air pollutant which has the highest impact on health in terms of premature death and disease.