Spike in air pollution in Cork City in recent days as households light fires as temperatures fall

Up to 100 premature deaths a year in Cork City caused by air pollutants, expert says

Heating techniques such as fires and stoves are prime contributors to bad air quality. Picture: Des Barry

Cork City’s air pollution is causing up to 100 premature deaths each year, according to a UCC air quality and atmospheric scientist.

Dr Dean Venables described the health effects of poor air quality as “enormous,” saying air pollution is the number one environmental cause of death and described Cork’s recent high numbers as “very poor”.

“The estimates I’ve seen are essentially 1,300 premature deaths in Ireland each year, so for Cork on a per capita basis, we’re probably seeing between 70-100 premature deaths each year due to air pollutants," he said.

If you compare that to road traffic fatalities, you’re about 10 times more likely to die prematurely from air pollution than from a road traffic collision.” 

Air quality monitors recorded a high spike in air pollutants on Wednesday evening in Cork City, and will continue to spike throughout the winter months due to domestic heating techniques across the city, according to Dr Venables.

He described Cork City’s air quality on Wednesday as “predictable” due to low wind speeds and low temperatures in combination with domestic heating techniques.

“We had a strong inversion, which means the pollutants that are emitted at ground level stay very close to the ground in a much smaller space and that results in a very high concentration,” he said.

Pollutants in the air are usually removed quite quickly due to wind, however, winter months see high spikes in the concentration of harmful pollutants.

“What didn’t change on Wednesday, is people are probably still doing the same activity of burning solid fuels, but the weather pattern resulted in trapping that to the ground,” he said.

Burning solid fuels

Air quality and atmospheric scientist Dr Dean Venables is critical of the installation of robot trees in Cork City, saying prevention is best in improving air quality. Picture: Larry Cummins

Dr Venables said the usual pattern he sees from November through to March is that people begin to burn more solid fuels as the days get colder.

“We do see a big strong spike in particulate matter pollution, these are small particles from smoke that are produced from about 4pm onwards and peak at around 8pm,” he said, before describing it as the worst cause of air pollution in Cork.

Cork’s position within a valley also contributes to the trapping of pollutants more so than elsewhere.

Heating techniques such as fires and stoves are prime contributors to bad air quality elsewhere, with towns such as Ennis and Enniscorthy suffering as a result, according to Dr Venables.

He said he was critical of the installation of robot trees in Cork City, saying prevention is best in improving air quality.

“Don’t try and suck dirty pollutants out of the air, what you try to do is not release them in the first place. When it comes to domestic heating, reducing the extent to which people use solid fuels for heating is the number one game in town,” he said, adding reducing traffic volumes is also vital.

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Dr Venables said in addition to prevention, real trees in cities can make a difference in air quality but warned that in reality, thousands would be required.

“Hundreds of thousands of trees are what make a difference, not one or two in a city centre,” he said.