A bus that runs on liquid petroleum gas (LPG) was on display in Dublin yesterday as part of a Green Party presentation on urban air quality management.
"Diesel engines contribute particularly to PM10 air pollution, an air-borne pollutant of which there is no recognised `safe' level," Mr John Gormley TD said at the presentation. These PM10 "particulates", released by diesel fumes, are capable of bypassing the body's natural defence systems and "high levels of exposure have been linked with increased hospital admissions and asthma attacks and can carry carcinogenic agents into the lungs".
A study of air quality in College Street, Dublin, completed recently for the Environmental Protection Agency, showed that PM10 levels in that area exceeded the threshold by more than three times the original target figure set by the EU, Mr Gormley said.
Other Green Party proposals to increase air quality include: fiscal policy changes to encourage the use of alternative fuels; monitoring the negative effect of emissions in the inner city; trucks and refuse collection vehicles to run on cleaner fuels and a provision for publicly accessible air quality monitoring.
LPG vehicles are used in several European countries, and make up 95 per cent of public transport buses in Vienna.
"There is very active promotion of LPG vehicles in England. The queen and Tony Blair both use LPG vehicles," said Mr Sean McCourt of the Irish Liquid Petroleum Gas Association.