Louise Bremner wrote:
> Declan Murphy <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote:

>>Up until the early 90's on Dublin's northside a lot of the houses burnt
>>coal (not coke) in open fireplaces. For some reason it was coal and not
>>peat. I assume the coal was imported, but don't know where from. Brazil
>>or the UK perhaps. In my grandmother's house it was the only source of
>>heat. As a kid I could enjoy the cheap thrills of getting in touch with
>>my inner firebug while claiming to be doing essential household chores
>>(heating water for the bath etc). First impression in 1984 of the skies
>>at night over Artane were a sickly yellow. When they finally banned it
>>from Dublin's metro area (switched to gas) the resulting drop in 
>>mortality rates was so immediate that they are still talking about it in
>>the pubs.
> 
> Yikes--took the authorities a while to catch on, didn't they? The big
> London Smog that gave conclusive proof that smog is a killer (not just
> the cold weather that often comes with it) was in 1953. It look several
> years for the Clean Air Act to take effect<snip>

It did take a while, but when I think about it then I'm not so 
surprised. Dublin was (still is) a relatively small city, and the 
population density was much lower than in London or most other English 
cities. The place didn't grow much due to emigration. And what smog 
there was would have contributed to respiratory illnesses, but perhaps 
as much as other causes (including lifetstyle and poverty related ones).
Plus there was the small matter of money and infrastructure. Ireland 
didn't start make shiteloads of money until the late eighties onwards 
and never had the per capita disposable incomes of the UK southeast.

>>>>Domestic coal use is fairly rare in most areas - but Northern England,
>>>>Scotland and any (former) mining district is likely to be a different
>>>>case.
>>>
>>>I had a flash of nostalgia when visiting a friend in Belfast--saw a
>>>flat-bed coal lorry, like the ones that used to deliver my grandad's
>>>coal into the coal-hole under the pavement. But it was delivering coke.
>>
>>A coal hole under the pavement? Luxury. 
> 
> Oh, yes--all mod cons. Separate mews at the back, too.

Luxury. Still plenty of places in Ireland burning coal or peat. Some 
places in Kerry without electricity yet as well. Seems a bit strange to 
see a bloke standing around talking bollocks on his mobile phone while 
buying peat.

-- 
St. Patrick's Day Parade, Nagoya. Saturday 5th March 2005
http://www.declan.tv/saint_pats/index.html