Poor air quality accounts for more than 1,000 deaths in Ireland each year, says EPA

Nearly 1,200 people die in Ireland every year because of poor air quality.

The finding is part is of the annual report from the Environmental Protection Agency, released today as part of World Lung Day.

The EPA says Irish air quality falls below World Health Organisation guidelines, but it does meet EU rules.

Patrick Kenny from the EPA said cars are some of the biggest culprits.

Mr Kenny said: "Two major pollutants of concern that we report on in this report are PM2.5, that very fine dust fraction, the main source of that is domestic solid fuel burning, and nitrogen dioxide from transport.

"The solutions to this, we are talking about clean heating choices and clean transport."