Call to ban car idling outside schools in bid to improve air quality

Children breathing ‘poison into their body’, says TD

THE Government has been urged to expedite plans to ban cars ‘idling’ outside of schools.

Many schools face significant air pollution problems with parents waiting outside and leaving their engines running while waiting for their children to come out of class.

When in opposition, the Greens said they wanted to move on the issue. Fianna Fáil also called for a ban on it in the last Dáil, when in opposition. Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton, then environment minister, also said he was looking at it.

Since the Green Party took office, there have been no firm plans to publish legislation on the matter. However, last week, in responding to a parliamentary question from Green TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh, party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said: ‘Emissions from private cars and commercial vehicles are also being examined in the formulation of new policies and measures aimed at protecting air quality.

‘While an outright ban on engine idling is one option, we must also consider the actual impact of banning engine idling on local air quality, how enforceable such a ban would be, and the legislative support required.

‘My department will continue to work with stakeholders on trafficrelated air pollution through the structures set out in the Clean Air Strategy to bring about the most effective solutions.’

In the last Dáil, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens all supported in principle the banning of car idling outside of schools.

Jennifer Whitmore, a Social Democrats TD, has drafted a Bill to that effect, but it has not moved beyond the second stage in the Dáil process. She said such legislation was a ‘no-brainer’.

The laws are ready to be implemented straight away and the Government should take it on board and ‘just do it’, she said.

Ms Whitmore said that the exhaust of a car was at the same height as the younger children going to school.

‘They are intaking poison into their body,’ she added.

She said that there were multiple studies that showed children who inhaled fumes had bad health outcomes. Ms Whitmore said traffic wardens or the gardaí could issue a fine to parents who left their car idling. She added: ‘It gives the power to the schools to say to parents, “What you are doing is illegal.”

‘At the moment there are education programmes, so schools are doing an awful lot of work, but they need the Government to back them up and put the rules in place. There is no good reason for anyone to sit in their car idling.’

Duncan Smith, the Labour Party spokesman on transport, said it was an ‘easy win’ and that the Government would have the support of his party if it moved ahead with the legislation.

‘I don’t see why we should be prevaricating on it,’ he said.

Mr Smith said he acknowledged that it would need to be put into an omnibus piece of transport or environment legislation.

Fine Gael TD Mr Bruton said that if the Government were to go ahead with the plan, it should empower local councils to manage it ‘rather than trying to have a national strategy’.

He said that ‘it was not an unreasonable thing to do, but in designated areas where air pollution was a challenge’. ‘It’s probably more in the context of air pollution,’ he added.

The Clean Air Strategy, published earlier in the year, said of car idling: ‘While transport measures will have a significant impact on our national annual emissions levels, more attention needs to be given to the development of localised measures which help improve air quality in urban areas that have suffered from increased congestion and localised transport-related emissions.

‘These include measures such as school streets/safe routes to school which reduce exposure to air pollution, measures to reducing emissions from idling vehicles, and integrating air pollution considerations into the review and setting of speed limits.’

The legislation is a ‘no-brainer’