Home heating oils and other liquid fuels are to be made environmentally healthier by limiting their sulphur content.
Announcing the changes, the Minister of State for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dan Wallace, said: "Sulphur emissions are harmful to health and the environment and these regulations set strict environmental standards for the sulphur levels in petroleum-based fuels."
Lower sulphur fuels would significantly reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide, an acidifying pollutant which harmed the environment, contributing to acid rain, and was also harmful to human health, contributing to respiratory system complaints.
A statutory EU and national sulphur content for heavy fuel oil has been set at 1 per cent, effective from January 2003. Heavy fuel oil is used in power generation and in some industries.
The regulations also strengthen the controls on the sulphur content of home heating oil, agricultural gas oil and, for the first time, aviation kerosene and marine gas oil.
The Minister said that the lead-in time for moving to lower sulphur fuels would allow industry and suppliers to source the new fuels and avoid competitive distortions.
A spokeswoman for the Department of the Environment said the changeover would not affect the consumer. She pointed out that the sale of gas oil with more than 0.2 per cent of sulphur had been prohibited since 1994.
The Minister also announced controls on waste pollution. He has introduced regulations which prescribe water quality standards in respect of certain substances. The standards were stringent, he said, and had to be achieved generally within a 10-year period in relation to all surface waters.
The 14 substances covered by the regulations include pesticides, solvents, metals and other substances, for example altrazine, simazine, tributyltin, copper, lead and fluoride.
Commenting on the inclusion of fluoride, the Department spokeswoman said they were not saying fluoride was a pollutant, but the amount of it in the water system, rivers and lakes would be monitored and controlled so that it did not exceed a certain limit.