People in Dublin are dying because of exposure to high levels of air pollutants, especially from cars, the Green Party has claimed.
Mr John Gormley TD said that Dublin now trailed far behind other European cities in air quality. It was "highly irresponsible of the Government to ignore the economic and health implications of this problem."
A Dublin Corporation report on air quality had concluded that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were carcinogenic, he said, and that there was no safe level of exposure to one VOC, benzene.
He claimed successive governments had dragged their feet on MOT tests for cars.