Pollution expert calls for ban on cars idling at schools

A NATIONAL ban on cars idling outside schools is a ‘no-brainer’, according to an expert on the effects of air pollution.

This comes as schools around the country have decided to put a stop to parents’ cars lingering outside schools as they drop off or collect their children, in a bid to combat pollution.

Consultant geriatrician Dr Colm Byrne, who i s currently researching the association between pollution and stroke, said air pollution can adversely affect children from a young age.

‘Air pollution from cars is increasingly recognised as an issue for children and for everyone living around schools,’ he told Newstalk Breakfast.

‘There is a lot of evidence now that things like asthma can be triggered in children by air pollution for traffic, but additionally, things like allergies and even mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression can also be linked to air pollution outside schools.’

Dr Byrne continued: ‘The long-term effects of air pollution are being increasingly found in children.

‘Post-mortem studies on children who passed away, who have lived in areas of high pollution, have found markers of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease at a young age in their brains.

‘Healthy ageing starts when you are a child and what happens to us at a young age can have lifetime effects.’

Dr Byrne suggested that banning cars from idling around schools should be a national policy for the Department of Education, and added that such a move would encourage more people to walk or cycle to school.

A Department of Education spokesman said: ‘The National Clean Air Strategy is under the remit of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications.

‘The question of idling outside schools and other public spaces will be considered as part of the strategy.’