COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 09, 2020

QUESTION NO. 18

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to report on his participation with the other Dublin Local Authorities in the Breath Life global campaign for clean air; will he confirm his plans to implement the proposals and make a statement?

REPLY:

The Mayor of South Dublin Cllr V. Cassidy along with the other Dublin Mayors signed up to the World Health Organisation (WHO) BreathLife campaign on 17th February. By signing up to the campaign, Dublin will be joining 76 cities, regions, and countries around the globe in demonstrating a commitment to bring air quality to safe levels by 2030 and collaborate on the clean air solutions that will help us get there faster. This pledges South Dublin to meeting the WHO standards of air quality and improving public health.

Many of the actions in the Climate Change Action Plan 2019-2024 will help achieve these ambitious targets. These include transport actions such as providing infrastructure such as cycle routes and greenway to help people make the change from car use to more sustainable and lower air polluting transport such as public transport and zero pollution transport like walking and cycling. Decarbonising the council's own fleet and providing EV charging infrastructure will also help achieve this goal. This is a challenge for every citizen of Dublin, to walk, cycle and use public transport more and to use the private cars less.

Change in how we use energy and a reduction in fossil fuels for heating and energy will make an impact. Improving energy use and moving to renewable energies and technologies such as district heating are also playing a role.       

South Dublin County Council with Dublin City Council and the Dublin Climate Action Regional Office is also working with the Department of Tourism Transport and Sport and the Department of Communication Climate Action and the Environment on a Working Group on Urban Transport-Related Air Pollution (UTRAP). This is at an early stage, but works are progressing with the goal of reducing air pollution. Larger projects such as Bus Connects and action on decarbonising large transport fleet will be part of this project. Improved air quality is just one of the environmental benefits of climate action.