Volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere which has caused the closure of many airports across Europe is likely to largely miss Ireland until Sunday at least, according to Government Taskforce on Emergency Planning.
At a briefing on the latest situation this afternoon, the taskforce said the plume of ash from Iceland was in the upper atmosphere above Scotland, to the east of Ireland over England, and just off shore to the south of the country.
The assistant secretary general of the Department of Transport Maurice Mullin said reports from the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and Met Eireann, as well as air quality reports from the Environmental Protection Agency, were being constantly monitored. He said there was as yet no air quality, public health or environmental concerns.
Mr Mullen said rain expected in Scotland later today or tomorrow would be monitored closely for its effects on the ash plume. It is thought the effect might be to wash ash out of the atmosphere, leaving a dust like coating on the ground where the rain falls.
Met Éireann’s Evelyn Cusack said an area of high pressure was keeping the plume from settling directly over the country, and this is expected to remain the case until Sunday at least, with cooler weather moving in on Monday and Tuesday.
However the prevailing winds are expected to return to their usual direction blowing from the southwest, on Wednesday, a feature which is expected to take the plume away from Ireland.
Ms Cusack said there was "always" a volcano exploding in Iceland and it was very rare for a combination of elements to bring the plume down over Ireland.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said there were no health dangers and officials were not anticipating any dangers. “It’s (the country) not going to be covered in this stuff,” Mr Dempsey told RTÉ's News at One. “There is no indication at the moment. If the wind changes, if the weather conditions change then that might actually change. But at the moment we shouldn’t be trying to create a scenario where people are going to be terrified.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today the cloud of ash has not affected air quality over Ireland. It said there were no traces of sulphur dioxide at any of its monitoring stations around the country.
“Monitoring of this information today has not shown any increase in pollution as a result of the ash cloud,” an EPA spokesman said. The agency said special air quality tests were being carried out at Ringsend, Dublin, Newbridge, Co Kildare and Ennis, Co Clare but no changes have been recorded.
“There have been no reports of any changes in our air quality since this event,” the spokeswoman said. “We have not had any reports of dust to our offices and the real time monitoring of sulphur dioxide levels would also pick up changes in dust levels.”
Yesterday, the Health Service Executive said the plume of ash poses no significant danger to public health in Ireland because it is currently at high altitude. "Even if the plume does drop towards the ground, the concentrations of particles at ground level are not likely to cause significant effects on health."
The HSE said rainfall over Ireland in the coming days could cause a small amount of the ash to be deposited over the country but quantities are expected to be "too small to pose a health risk to the public".