The Green Party is unveiling a campaign today to highlight the dangers posed by allergies to public health.
The party has made twelve proposals it hopes the Government will act upon to reduce the instance of allergies, so reducing high rates of asthma in the country.
Mr John Gormley TD, who is the Green Party's chairman and spokesman for health and children, said asthma affects at least one in seven Irish children and one in 20 Irish adults.
Allergies are a major cause of asthma, and, according to Mr Gormley: "Ireland is now ranked among the top four countries in the world with the highest prevalence rates for asthma and is second only to the UK in the European league table for childhood asthma."
Mr Gormley added: "Thirty years ago about one third of asthma cases were said to be caused by allergy. Now it is a massive 80 per cent. It has been estimated that half of all Europeans will suffer from some sort of allergy by 2015 if this new epidemic goes unchecked."
Mr Gormley said: "The Green Party believes that it now time to seriously tackle this growing epidemic. Our position paper, Allergies and Asthma: 12 proposals, puts forward 12 constructive proposals which we hope the government will act on. It is clear that this increasing problem can no longer be ignored."
