Major action, including higher motor taxes, may have to be taken soon if Ireland is to meet European Union pollution targets by 2010, the Department of the Environment has warned.
Under the 1999 Gothenburg Protocol, Ireland committed itself to cutting its 2001 sulphur dioxide (SO2) levels by 67 per cent, requiring a fall of 84,000 tonnes by 2010.
The State has also agreed to a 52 per cent cut in nitric oxides levels. This would involve cutting the 135,000 tonnes released by industry and homes in 2001 by 65,000 tonnes.
Industry will also have to reduce solvent and benzene emissions, from 87,000 tonnes in 2001 to 55,000 tonnes in 2010 - a 37 per cent reduction - while ammonia levels must drop by 6 per cent.
"Ireland, Spain and Portugal face extraordinary challenges as they are as yet less than halfway towards their emissions levels for all pollutants," the European Environment Agency said.
"Business as usual is no longer an option for Ireland with regard to these pollutants," the Department of the Environment and Local Government warned yesterday.
Action would have to be taken immediately to cut emissions, said the Department, which released a discussion paper to provoke public debate on the issue.
"It would be too onerous in environmental and economic terms to leave alleviating actions until later in the decade," it said.
Energy taxes would have to be used more widely to force car owners to drive smaller, more efficient vehicles.
"The incorporation of these elements into the setting of annual motor tax is a possibility.
"In the adjustment of fuel taxes, and in any future decisions on road pricing, it may be appropriate to incorporate economic signals that disincentivise unnecessary travel," the paper said.
Efforts already under way at the ESB's Moneypoint power station should ensure that it stays inside its SO2 emissions target - though carbon dioxide emissions pose other problems.
The ending of coal-burning at Moneypoint, and its replacement by gas, in addition to the use of desulphurisation technologies, could also help the national levels, said the Department.
Efforts to cut nitric oxide emissions will be more difficult to achieve: "The measures currently envisaged are not sufficient to ensure the target is met," the discussion paper warned.
Special catalytic converters may need to be installed at Moneypoint in advance of an EU deadline, while "a further intensification of the renewable energy programme" will also be necessary.
State incentives may be needed to encourage homeowners and businesses to replace inefficient boilers with up-to-date models, and to encourage the use of more efficient cars and trucks.
New pumps at petrol stations will be required to cut the emissions of nitric oxide and other pollutants, while paint and varnish manufacturers will have to produce less polluting solvents and benzene additives.
Ammonia emissions in Ireland are caused "almost exclusively" by the storage of animal waste and the spreading of slurry. Cattle typically account for 80 per cent of the total.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, will produce a strategy once debate on the discussion paper is completed.
Failure by Ireland to reach the Gothenburg targets would result in the European Commission taking a case against the State to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
The paper is available at www.environ.ie
