Environmental Indicators Ireland 2016

• Emissions of Particulate Matter (PM_2.5) in Ireland have decreased by 55% from 32,680 tonnes in 1990 to 14,600 tonnes in 2014.
• The Residential and Commercial sector accounted for 56% of emissions of PM_2.5 in 2014, with Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing accounting for 16%.

• Ireland ranked 11th in 2014 among EU Member States for emissions of PM_2.5 in terms of the relative change from 2000.

• Ireland’s sulphur dioxide emissions have fallen from 183,700 tonnes in 1990 to 19,300 tonnes in 2014. Emissions from Power Stations declined by 97,000 tonnes over the same period.

• The fall in emissions from Power Stations is mainly due to a shift from oil and coal to gas and the installation of technologies which reduce sulphur emissions.

• Ireland has been below the National Emissions Ceiling (NEC 2010) for sulphur dioxide since 2009.

• All 28 EU Member States were below their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling level of emissions of sulphur oxides in 2014. Ireland ranked 22^nd among EU Member States in terms of 2014 emissions relative to the 2010 NEC Ceiling.

• Ireland’s nitrogen oxides emissions have fallen from 142,300 tonnes in 1990 to 74,700 tonnes in 2014. This is still above the NEC 2010 ceiling of 65,000 tonnes and slightly above the 2011 figure of 74,000 tonnes.

• In 2014, 22 EU Member States were below their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling for nitrogen oxides. Ireland was ranked 26^th in terms of emissions relative to the 2010 NEC and was one of six EU Member States which exceeded this ceiling in 2014.

• Ireland’s ammonia emissions remained relatively stable over the 1990-2014 period and were 10,700 tonnes below the NEC 2010 emissions ceiling of 116,000 tonnes for ammonia in 2014.

• Only six EU Member States were above their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling for ammonia in 2014. Ireland ranked 16^th in 2014 in terms of emissions relative to its 2010 NEC threshold.

• Ireland’s emissions of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds fell by 36% from 136,000 tonnes in 1990 to 87,150 tonnes in 2014, but was still above the NEC 2010 ceiling of 55,000 tonnes.

• Emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing remained relatively stable from 1990 to 2014 and accounted for 48% of total NMVOC emissions in 2014.  Emissions from the Transport declined substantially over the 1990-2014 period.

• Only four EU Member States exceeded their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling in 2014 for Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds. Ireland recorded the highest emissions among EU Member States in 2014 for NMVOC relative to the 2010 National Emissions Ceiling.

• Under EU Directive 2008/50/EC, every EU Member State is permitted a maximum of 25 days per year in which an ozone threshold of 120 µg/m3 may be exceeded. Ireland did not exceed this number of days in any year during the period 1998 to 2014. The year with the highest number of exceedances was 2003, when 18 days were recorded as being above the threshold value. In 2014 no days exceeded this threshold.

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