Health-Related Policies
Furthermore, ethnicity and religion can play a role in people’s perceived safety on public transport23, particularly those with concerns related to hate crimes. For religious people who have a marked religious identity through clothing there is an increased risk of harassment or discrimination24. Compared to Catholics, members of minority religions in Ireland report somewhat higher discrimination rates in the workplace and in public and private services. Research interviews with Muslim men and women in Dublin outlined the discriminatory practices they felt they experienced from transport staff as a result of religious and racial profiling, which took the form of poor or no service provision25. Equally, members of the travelling community can have greater barriers to accessing sustainable transport alternatives, especially if traveller-specific accommodation is located in peripheral locations with unsafe active travel connectivity and poor public transport services from sites to local towns. Refugee centres and sites are often hard to reach due to more limited transport options to these areas (Dublin-centricity) with asylum seekers needing to travel great distances to central places to reach services and appointments. Ensuring that our public transport system is accessible, inclusive and safe is of vital importance to the success of the Strategy and ensuring the services provided are fully aligned to the core values of the Public Sector Duty.
While pollutants originate from several sources, the transport sector accounts for more than 35% of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 10% of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Sources of NOx include the burning of fossil fuel in vehicle engines and by stationary combustion sources, such as industry and home heating. In towns and cities, where people are often close to traffic, vehicles are responsible for a significant portion of localised NOx levels. Vehicle engines also emit PM2.5 directly, and brake and tyre wear also contribute to levels of PM10 in the air. While new vehicles emit significantly less air pollutants than older ones, rising traffic levels also mean that where there are high levels of congestion, or where it is difficult for transport derived air pollutants to disperse (such as in heavily built-up city streets), it is becoming increasingly challenging to maintain high standards of air quality for people nearby.
It was estimated that the external health costs attributable to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in Dublin was €80 million in 201526.
In 2023, to address the environmental and public health issues associated with air pollution, a new Clean Air Strategy for Ireland was published by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. The Clean Air Strategy seeks to enhance and protect the quality of air that we breathe through a comprehensive suite of cross Government policies and measures that targets all sources of air pollution, including those from the transport, agriculture and residential sectors. Amongst its key commitments is an ambition to work towards World Health Organisation (WHO) target values by 2040. The WHO guideline values are set for the protection of health and are generally stricter than the comparable EU standards.
Health-Related Policies
An efficient and sustainable transport system can have positive impacts on our health in several different ways.
Air pollution, including pollution caused by vehicles, is known to have adverse impacts on human health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called air pollution the greatest environmental risk to human health. In Ireland, it is estimated (in 2025) that 1,700 annual deaths could be attributed to the impacts of air pollution as well as causing, or exacerbating the effects of, illnesses such as stroke, heart disease, lung disease, and lung cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) also provides evidence of links between air pollution and type 2 diabetes, obesity, systemic inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
While existing policy measures will go a long way towards reducing transport’s contribution to these pollutants, the key role that demand management can play in addressing air pollution issues is recognised in the Clean Air Strategy.
Physical inactivity is also a major public health issue, with estimates of circa €1.5 billion annually27 being attributed to incurred costs for our health system. Ireland’s National Physical
23 GDA Transport Strategy, 2022 - 2042 - Preliminary EqIA
24 IHREC Annual Report, 2017
25 Islamophobia In Dublin: Experiences and How to Respond
26 Dey, S., Caulfield, B. and Ghosh, B., 2018. Potential health and economic benefits of banning diesel traffic in Dublin, Ireland. Journal
of Transport & Health, 10, pp.156-166.
27 https://assets.gov.ie/15979/04e0f52cee5f47ee9c01003cf559e98d.pdf
Activity Framework 2024-2040, which sets out a clear ambition to position Ireland as Europe’s most physically active nation by 2040. The Framework concentrates improvement across eight priority areas including Active Travel and Active Urban Design.
alone can generate up to five times the retail spends for the same area of car parking.
In Dublin, the reimagining of Blackrock Village saw a 25% increase in available public space which resulted in a 40% reduction of car trips on Blackrock Main Street, a dramatic increase in bicycle use, increased revenue for local business, and a significant improvement in the ‘health’ of the street with better air quality, safer streets, and a more relaxed overall atmosphere.
A more physically active Irish society is one that is imbued with a physical activity culture where choices to be physically active are facilitated and enabled by design across the range of policy areas which interact with daily life.
As well as the beneficial health impacts of switching to a low carbon transport system, the health sector has a considerable role to play in reducing transport demand through the provision of online and digital services, effective mobility management plans for reducing traffic to existing hospital and health centres and through building programmes that locate new services with the objectives of this Strategy in mind.
While our adult population is one of the more active in Europe28, only 15% of Irish children meet the WHO recommended physical activity guidelines. Furthermore, the number of children actively travelling to school has declined since 2018. Achieving a behavioural shift towards more active forms of travel where possible, particularly for school children, will also have the benefit of improving societal health and easing the burden on our healthcare system over the long-term.
The close alignment of health benefits and demand management/supply side measures were discussed across many of the expert subgroups.
A 2025 position paper by the Climate and Health Alliance entitled ‘Active Travel: The Magic Pill’ explains that ‘active travel gets us moving by embedding physical activity into daily life in a way that recreational or fitness-focused physical activity does not’. To help quantify the scale of benefits that can be attributed to active travel, the report outlined how walking, wheeling and cycling in the Dublin Metropolitan Area saves the HSE €64.5 million, equivalent to the cost of over 1,170,000 GP appointments.
The Generators of Demand (People) sub-group in particular considered the range of potential measures that could impact positively from a demand management perspective. These are set out in their separate report, and synthesised in a number of key recommendations in Chapter 10 (notably Recommendations 13 to 16).
In summary, there are clearly a wide range of national policies and programmes already in place that can and do support the objectives of this Strategy. There is also potential to do more and embed the principles of demand management in the planning and decision making at national and local level. Certain sectors are significant generators of travel demand and there is now an opportunity through this Strategy to assess the scope for change and provide guidance in that regard. There is also significant well-being benefits to be achieved through a closer alignment of polices particularly on health, accessibility and inclusion, which can be captured in the evaluation framework described in Chapter 12.
While the Covid-19 Pandemic was an extremely difficult time for all, some positives did arise from that period. In an effort to allow businesses to reopen and for people to meet in a safe manner, towns and cities all over Europe began giving back public space to pedestrians and cyclists. The net result was making our town and city streets more people friendly places, with increased footfall to our high streets and greater levels of active travel.
Mobility is a key part of healthy placemaking, and towns and cities where walking and cycling is prioritised can bring major health, environmental and economic benefits.
The specific potential to advance the objectives of this Strategy through these policies are explored in more detail under subsequent chapters and in the sub-group reports, with specific recommendations identified in Chapter 10.
The optimisation of road space across users such as pedestrians, cyclists, shared services and public transport (including taxis) can bring economic benefits through increased footfall on our high streets. Research has shown that cycle parking
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