Almost 3,500 Irish people die prematurely, every year, because of poor air quality.

It's a problem that costs us €6.3 billion annually.

An Taisce has written to the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, and the Minister for Health, James Reilly, asking them to use Ireland's EU Presidency to deliver better air quality for Europe.

"The figures for Europe as a whole are frightening", according to James Nix, Policy Director with An Taisce: "420,000 premature deaths and up to €790 billion in economic costs due to poor air quality".

Ireland's National Trust says 3,400 premature deaths occur in Ireland, every year, for the same reasons.

Urges action

The Trust has written to Ministers Hogan and Reilly asking them to work to reform EU law on air pollution, gaps in which lead to unnecessarily high levels of asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory conditions.

"We're fully familiar with the consequences of weak legislation and poor regulation in the financial sector; when it comes to protecting people from air pollution - particularly the very young and elderly - the fallout is even more stark", noted James Nix.

The high financial burden for Ireland of €6.3 billion annually, is due to days lost in work and education, as well as the direct health costs.

Traffic culpit

Traffic is the main culprit says An Taisce, which says Ireland needs to focus on reducing pollutants from diesel cars, buses and trucks. 

While progress has been made, Ireland remains in ongoing breach of EU law because of traffic-induced nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are implicated in asthma and other respiratory conditions.

An Taisce is urging Government Ministers to work to reform EU law on air pollution.