New proposed laws that could give local authorities 'search-and-seize powers' to crack down on smoky fuels have been branded as 'inoperable'.
The Irish Independent reports the legislation - if passed - could allow them to stop vehicles, confiscate unapproved smoky fuels and in some cases raid private homes.
Smoky coal, poorly dried timber and most turf release high levels of smoke and particulate matter into the air which travels deep into the lungs.
Ireland's latest air monitoring report shows "concerning localised issues which lead to poor air quality."
It found that Ireland met all of its EU legal requirements in 2023 but did not meet health-based World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
Caller Dee from Co Kerry told Lunchtime Live the important issue is air quality.
"I live in a medium-sized town in Kerry and on those clear nights when you're outside the town the air is good - and as you approach town you can feel it in your lungs," she said.
"We need to do something about this and I think it's about regulation.
"I don't think people are ever going to go into people's houses and check - I think that's inoperable."
Image by Glenda Vidal from PixabayDee said the issue of smoky fuel needs to be tackled further back along the supply chain.
"I think what we need to focus on is [to] penalise illegal sellers and do it at source," she said.
"Sure we can't enforce dog poo laws nevermind [laws about smoky fuels].
"There's evidently huge amount of it coming in over the border - that's not acceptable.
"So we need we definitely need enforcement but going into people's homes I don't think that's ever going to happen or work.
"We do that kind of stuff in Ireland - we write laws, but we then don't enforce [them]."
'Strengthen laws'
Dublin Green Party Councillor Feljin Jose said existing laws need to be enforced.
"What is the point in having a bad if you don't enforce it?" he said.
"I would be keen to target people who are illegally bringing this into the country and selling these at shops.
"There was a report of councils doing inspections of fuels that are on sale and still found that a lot of weren't compliant.
"Local authorities need to have the power to actually seize that and stop this from happening.
"We need to strengthen laws to allow local authorities to enforce the laws that we currently have".
'How we heat our homes'
EPA Programme Manager Roni Hawe told the show that regulations around fuels are already there.
"What we're talking about here in the EPA is about the actual quality of our air and the fact that things that we are doing are having a big impact on it," she said.
"The two things that we're doing is how we heat our homes and the use of solid fuels in large parts of the country and also then our use of cars.
"What we would like to see is a real emphasis this year, in particular from the local authorities as we head into winter, on the solid fuel regulations that were introduced in 2022.
"They're still relatively new and from a monitoring results last year, we can see that there are still issues around particulate matter levels in local and regional towns around Ireland."
Ms Hawe added that the EPA "is more concerned about the use of the existing regulations as they are" rather than new powers.
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