Air

1.1 Ireland: Particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions 1990-2016

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	Residential and Commercial	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Transport	Industry	Power stations	Other
1990-1994	21.0864509004021	2.75184572624679	2.94831540249994	1.32559127869727	0.824564102939528	3.03580073230197
1995-1999	13.9367768823233	2.72037706961162	2.93256522532112	1.21949535035739	1.15868403818592	3.188914528306
2000-2004	9.9279067180473	2.47228079630096	2.70412614008829	1.72717349250523	1.1659432198871	4.34155194891104
2005-2009	9.4917839794463	2.18849733536054	2.61933491663083	1.97805699634928	0.780989993942347	4.60950455717722
	0	0	0	0	0	0
2010	9.3267274551102	1.9593515350209	2.09220801639897	1.55380435571336	0.457272801035573	3.6007640968322
2011	8.66421379086169	1.90969312778405	1.94322645126864	1.28456789884128	0.382085209486481	2.61814985019153
2012	8.47554515787589	1.92529737407884	1.82498889983495	1.20818260132197	0.435101788572807	2.65225271818412
2013	9.05825703784538	1.90959010773847	1.79399539012394	1.19267810206655	0.375532548075582	2.44158105483379
2014	7.74577117669746	1.90153832736435	1.70546259056222	1.44008603395565	0.38496479444652	2.39117776174828
2015	7.52861899747864	1.9018584406492	1.55046666320347	1.46291552904635	0.438519927827773	2.66787373649387
2016	7.03188026900906	1.94671543009247	1.57417506617261	1.48279309264788	0.439718629562364	2.46557016306826

Emissions of particulate matter (PM₂.₅) have decreased by 53% from an average of 32,000 tonnes in 1990-1994 to 14,900 in 2016.
The Residential and Commercial sector accounted for 47% of emissions of PM₂.₅ in 2016, with Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing accounting for 13%.

1.2 EU: Particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions 2015

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	2000=100
Malta	24.1902834008097
Cyprus	33.4552710342534
Netherlands	45.8906071019473
France	51.8031734846674
Finland	55.828127380771
Estonia	59.7128874388254
Czech Republic	61.0430827008014
Croatia	61.1726981218507
Germany	62.1000917643093
Belgium	65.3381642512077
Ireland	67.5047323205358
Spain	68.2657777436634
Luxembourg	68.782699686083
Austria	70.3398078794803
Sweden	72.0559031810858
Portugal	73.4044929478588
EU	74.0555344202219
United Kingdom	78.3960732377083
Latvia	82.6052459628489
Poland	83.1628633614186
Italy	84.4333018075377
Denmark	86.5555362116992
Slovenia	96.7421039542402
Lithuania	97.5695013381397
Slovakia	101.283001077586
Hungary	110.932595407236
Bulgaria	123.645024245805
Romania	127.750634915212

Ireland ranked 11th lowest in 2015 among EU Member States for emissions of PM_2.5 compared with 2000. Irish PM_2.5 emissions in 2015 were 68% of the 2000 level, compared with a figure of 74% for the EU as a whole.
Malta had the lowest level of PM_2.5 emissions in 2015 compared with 2000 at 24%, while Romania had the highest at 128%.

1.3 Ireland: Sulphur dioxide equivalent emissions 1990-2016

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	Power stations	Residential and Commercial	Industry	Transport	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Other	NEC 2010 target
1990-1994	97.4686	33.2782952622186	34.6455850281814	6.75264546159804	1.52655825855025	0.606039119184028	42
1995-1999	95.4394	21.1681972340744	37.2227767275987	6.5118131379669	1.1133214283622	0.701083552937346	42
2000-2004	61.279764	15.4565831746969	24.5226989953844	2.19527747195511	0.873216417956061	0.818084263849016	42
2005-2009	30.2026788832	11.8452687965106	8.48358837232568	0.696107574051413	0.641893322711295	1.09735521997281	42
	0	0	0	0	0	0	42
2010	9.45564	9.51403704430038	5.86476657503271	0.276745577116212	0.368375168511254	0.862418775089304	42
2011	9.38108642386014	8.72287810400557	5.24424159959506	0.246199807115335	0.0885000681293786	1.15230135591902	42
2012	9.58115734962	8.26773655735322	4.48541564427724	0.273042204178448	0.0940545758998301	0.664027053326191	42
2013	8.685668008	8.84781556443798	4.86709598021393	0.259466803474449	0.0830014015384546	0.762761547380091	42
2014	5.95882362657	7.26043566081138	3.34057833670868	0.236524451733299	0.0491732383850217	0.0450709062802101	42
2015	5.2185603013	6.94886144846516	2.44288288246571	0.240046245502142	0.0396729565680988	0.114102636405063	42
2016	3.71759098	6.89900508053505	2.5909762121429	0.255827414951188	0.0363569628384524	0.265984527977207	42

Ireland’s emissions of sulphur dioxide equivalent have fallen from an annual average of 174,300 tonnes in 1990-1994 to 13,800 tonnes in 2016.
Emissions from Power stations have declined from an average of 97,500 tonnes in 1990-1994 to 3,700 in 2016.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.

1.4 EU: Sulphur oxides emissions 2015

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1.1 EU: Sulphur oxides emissions 2015

All 28 EU Member States were below their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling level of emissions for sulphur oxides (SO_x) in 2015. Ireland ranked 22nd among EU Member States in terms of 2015 emissions relative to the 2010 NEC.

1.5 Ireland: Nitrogen oxides emissions 1990-2016

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	Power stations	Industry	Transport	Residential and Commercial	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Other	NEC 2010 target
1990-1994	47.5342	8.12149456454945	65.3262224805241	9.7463763047666	43.243045084083	1.80721716724572	65
1995-1999	40.3200795676336	8.6238950588765	59.8618404424826	8.67623378327801	48.4612831320246	1.04703318701046	65
2000-2004	36.9263656305055	12.0828092252985	53.3376582858484	8.72952172477759	46.1622962061237	1.26582023855255	65
2005-2009	24.9862474283073	15.678812759112	54.2505164317399	9.19762275795819	41.1648441748651	1.15490749749595	65
	0	0	0	0	0	0	65
2010	11.5162356809694	9.93484719869214	42.8858509714577	9.46160341582292	38.3890501129308	1.13358395149372	65
2011	7.99543261547784	8.4550021978611	40.9577959652496	8.28897088717029	34.7941908850561	0.85919459320739	65
2012	10.30265931818	10.4067062319943	40.0063046677308	8.04477929159731	35.0751128808912	0.886288514770221	65
2013	8.56948805434831	10.5295004770858	40.5930503000794	8.02601706980138	36.8913337114536	0.824740435411589	65
2014	7.57531801660617	10.710995057646	42.4098583383022	7.20979018288489	35.4513647710535	0.784937868522429	65
2015	9.53021652010558	10.8530091386113	40.8790620044876	7.4422151257103	35.0428976016136	0.645357300111606	65
2016	8.00027914923566	11.3118194865503	43.9770732078052	7.54021463959597	35.8205171471027	0.649878926200413	65

Ireland’s nitrogen oxides emissions have fallen from an average of 175,800 tonnes in 1990-1994 to 107,300 tonnes in 2016. This is 65% above the National Emissions Ceiling for 2010 of 65,000 tonnes and above the 2015 figure of 104,400 tonnes.

1.6 EU: Nitrogen oxides emissions 2015

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1.2 EU: Nitrogen oxides emissions 2015

In 2015, 21 EU Member States were below their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling for nitrogen oxides. Ireland was ranked 26th in terms of emissions relative to the 2010 NEC and was one of seven EU Member States which exceeded the 2010 ceiling in 2015.

1.7 Ireland: Ammonia emissions 1990-2016

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	Dairy cattle	Other cattle	Other livestock	Direct soils	N-excreted on pasture	Other	NEC 2010 target
1990-1994	12.240796609164	28.3602634321955	10.0827745766174	46.8264215972478	14.2151909616584	0.393397453291635	116
1995-1999	11.8743582322247	31.5497457476768	11.1275445641426	48.2870078484247	14.962746309613	1.05170538129974	116
2000-2004	11.3899840888683	30.1815109880481	10.8485214238872	45.6179041669557	14.2722236943826	1.95360924745451	116
2005-2009	10.5334602769851	30.6626851199252	10.0434263916166	43.3722179185129	13.6776512920366	2.43332188336518	116
	0	0	0	0	0	0	116
2010	10.50468522131	28.7357481315598	9.79503284062837	44.1521549641199	13.1734173594397	1.86854540999019	116
2011	10.8951868615389	28.1490247292919	9.91255623773895	40.7481288609858	12.9933103609844	1.68422896833037	116
2012	10.9674655937639	30.0426515155639	10.1995086304042	40.1436738310616	13.426726225296	1.51367013763374	116
2013	11.201149677143	30.4862532928901	9.88294159835626	41.2096459262132	13.6341270641237	1.41584897478509	116
2014	11.6832514410295	29.9134116336753	10.1119180112753	41.5667006904333	13.6880345649275	1.34827381504843	116
2015	12.7082174987115	30.0765780609857	10.1575341353677	43.1729152353267	13.7708292733209	1.23516783251662	116
2016	13.4341133323288	31.2812018681603	10.3789248755411	46.2394208331111	14.1944793679107	1.17207054832013	116

Ireland’s ammonia emissions have gradually increased since 2011. In 2016 they were 0.6% above the 2010 National Emissions Ceiling of 116,000 tonnes.

1.8 EU: Ammonia emissions 2015

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1.3 EU: Ammonia emissions 2015

Only six EU Member States were above their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling for ammonia in 2015. Ireland ranked 17th in 2015 among EU countries in terms of emissions relative to its 2010 NEC threshold.

1.9 Ireland: NMVOC emissions 1990-2016

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	Transport	Residential and Commercial	Industry	Other	Fugitive and Solvents	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Power stations	NEC 2010 target
1990-1994	34.7172247727163	25.0369431105811	1.45591457097348	11.0288644223396	27.0422505118255	42.9526412608678	0.217365548872583	55
1995-1999	29.1255901040993	16.5970758468773	1.39290990975409	11.1064696388732	28.978596287862	46.4168420202494	0.30520524268085	55
2000-2004	18.4079535547239	11.9176070417545	2.04180373169048	13.0786412862349	28.9264880887916	44.6768739189066	0.377852261333546	55
2005-2009	12.6733042699265	11.4360248247727	2.74501927457186	15.0842558217811	30.7762980253359	43.8913653839707	0.369771438987253	55
	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	55
2010	8.98640729363764	11.3738355713509	2.46239478671585	18.3768980490939	25.4065836295877	42.2586554997851	0.372320293188279	55
2011	8.15795439535223	10.5130307969282	2.25234770166176	18.5326115497959	24.7710052246834	41.9707386941583	0.310327850297891	55
2012	7.3149368013287	10.2985831614833	2.22711744719637	20.7300805987962	23.7621954764695	43.2665571594264	0.296303523131863	55
2013	6.75588752145018	11.0147855571395	2.27837869735017	22.906649340237	23.1147707396069	44.0008793837089	0.268264860747884	55
2014	6.23865027713198	9.46060915668341	2.75545387541133	19.5550583020377	23.8758123904561	43.9692477389161	0.25867040827931	55
2015	5.63656573222129	9.22738550673515	2.88454254767143	20.6298258858491	23.2966392654254	44.4702242817885	0.257275097415872	55
2016	5.26443859520651	8.62992280148702	2.92169811428548	21.8197323363713	23.1250388695982	46.1880209308905	0.303958802987533	55

Ireland’s emissions of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds fell by 24% from an annual average of 142,500 tonnes in 1990-1994 to 108,300 tonnes in 2016. The 2016 figure was 97% above the 2010 National Emissions Ceiling of 55,000 tonnes.
Emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing remained relatively stable from 1990-2016 and accounted for 43% of total NMVOC emission in 2016.
Emissions from Transport and the Residential and Commercial sectors declined by 85% and 66% respectively over the 1990-2016 period.

1.10 EU: NMVOC emissions 2015

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1.4 EU: NMVOC emissions 2015

Only five EU Member States exceed their 2010 National Emissions Ceiling in 2015 for Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds. Ireland recorded the highest emissions among EU Member States in 2015 for NMVOC’s relative to its 2010 National Emissions Ceiling.

1.11 Ireland: Ozone threshold exceedances 1998-2016

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	Days exceeding threshold	Ozone threshold
1998	10	25
1999	7	25
2000	4	25
2001	7	25
2002	0	25
2003	18	25
2004	5	25
2005	3	25
2006	11	25
2007	10	25
2008	12	25
2009	3	25
2010	4	25
2011	3	25
2012	4	25
2013	7	25
2014	0	25
2015	6	25
2016	2	25

Under EU Directive 2008/50/EC, every EU Member State is permitted a maximum of 25 days per year per monitoring station in which an ozone threshold of 120 µg.m³ (micrograms per cubic metre) may be exceeded. Ireland did not exceed this number of days in any year during the 1998-2016 period. The year with the highest number of total exceedances at all stations was 2003, when 18 days were recorded as being above the threshold value. In 2016 the threshold value was exceeded twice.

Environmental Indicators Ireland 2018

1.1 Ireland: Particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions 1990-2016

1.2 EU: Particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions 2015

1.3 Ireland: Sulphur dioxide equivalent emissions 1990-2016

1.4 EU: Sulphur oxides emissions 2015

1.5 Ireland: Nitrogen oxides emissions 1990-2016

1.6 EU: Nitrogen oxides emissions 2015

1.7 Ireland: Ammonia emissions 1990-2016

1.8 EU: Ammonia emissions 2015

1.9 Ireland: NMVOC emissions 1990-2016

1.10 EU: NMVOC emissions 2015

1.11 Ireland: Ozone threshold exceedances 1998-2016

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Table 1.1 EU: Sulphur oxides (SO_x) emissions 2015
	'000 tonnes SOx		%
Country	2015 emissions	NEC 2010 ceiling	Above/ below ceiling
Latvia	4	101	-96%
Hungary	24	500	-95%
Lithuania	18	145	-87%
Romania	152	918	-83%
Bulgaria	142	836	-83%
Denmark	11	55	-80%
Slovenia	5	27	-80%
Croatia	15	70	-78%
Greece	120	523	-77%
Italy	123	475	-74%
Sweden	19	67	-71%
Portugal	50	160	-69%
Luxembourg	1	4	-69%
Estonia	32	100	-68%
Cyprus	13	39	-66%
Spain	273	746	-63%
Malta	3	9	-63%
Austria	15	39	-62%
Finland	42	110	-62%
United Kingdom	236	585	-60%
France	153	375	-59%
Ireland	18	42	-58%
Belgium	43	99	-57%
Czech Republic	123	265	-54%
Poland	690	1397	-51%
Netherlands	30	50	-39%
Slovakia	71	110	-35%
Germany	352	520	-32%
Source: Eurostat

Table 1.2 EU: Nitrogen oxides emissions 2015
	'000 tonnes NOx		%
Country	2015 emissions	NEC 2010 ceiling	Above/ Below ceiling
Malta	3	8	-64%
Romania	214	437	-51%
Lithuania	55	110	-50%
Estonia	31	60	-49%
Bulgaria	132	247	-47%
Czech Republic	165	286	-42%
Latvia	37	61	-40%
Croatia	53	87	-39%
Hungary	123	198	-38%
Slovakia	86	130	-34%
Cyprus	15	23	-34%
Greece	241	344	-30%
Portugal	180	250	-28%
Italy	763	990	-23%
Slovenia	35	45	-22%
United Kingdom	918	1167	-21%
Poland	714	879	-19%
Finland	140	170	-18%
Sweden	130	148	-12%
Netherlands	228	260	-12%
Denmark	114	127	-10%
France	835	810	3%
Spain	905	847	7%
Belgium	197	176	12%
Germany	1,187	1051	13%
Ireland	80	65	22%
Austria	149	103	45%
Luxembourg	22	11	97%
Source: Eurostat

Table 1.3 EU: Ammonia emissions 2015
	'000 tonnes NH₃		%
Country	2015 emissions	NEC 2010 ceiling	Above/ Below ceiling
Bulgaria	34	108	-69%
Lithuania	29	84	-66%
Estonia	12	29	-60%
Latvia	19	44	-57%
Malta	1	3	-52%
Cyprus	5	9	-50%
Portugal	51	90	-43%
Poland	267	468	-43%
Romania	163	210	-22%
Slovakia	30	39	-22%
Luxembourg	6	7	-18%
Hungary	76	90	-15%
France	679	780	-13%
Czech Republic	70	80	-13%
Greece	64	73	-12%
Belgium	66	74	-11%
Ireland	108	116	-7%
Italy	393	419	-6%
Slovenia	19	20	-4%
United Kingdom	293	297	-1%
Croatia	30	30	-1%
Netherlands	128	128	-0%
Austria	67	66	1%
Finland	32	31	3%
Denmark	73	69	5%
Sweden	60	57	6%
Spain	476	353	35%
Germany	759	550	38%
Source: Eurostat

Table 1.4 EU: NMVOC emissions 2015
	'000 tonnes NMVOC		%
Country	2015 emissions	NEC 2010 ceiling	Above/ Below ceiling
Malta	2	12	-83%
Latvia	41	136	-70%
Estonia	23	49	-53%
Greece	122	261	-53%
Cyprus	7	14	-47%
Bulgaria	93	175	-47%
France	623	1,050	-41%
Romania	313	523	-40%
Czech Republic	139	220	-37%
Slovakia	89	140	-36%
Lithuania	59	92	-35%
Poland	531	800	-34%
Croatia	61	90	-33%
Finland	88	130	-32%
Sweden	164	241	-32%
United Kingdom	835	1,200	-30%
Austria	113	159	-29%
Italy	842	1,159	-27%
Netherlands	139	185	-25%
Slovenia	32	40	-20%
Belgium	120	139	-14%
Spain	584	662	-12%
Portugal	180	180	0%
Hungary	139	137	1%
Germany	1,020	995	3%
Luxembourg	10	9	8%
Denmark	109	85	29%
Ireland	101	55	84%
Source: Eurostat