What's the news?
Saying that it plans to 'nudge people' into better behaviour when it comes to climate change and care for the environment, the Government has laid out its plan to take action on Ireland's carbon emissions. While much of the focus is on retrofitting houses with more efficient heating systems and better insulation, there is also a large chunk of the plan devoted to motoring, and not much of it will make comfortable reading to Ireland's already-stretched motorists.
The Government has already committed to a study into the potential for a London-style congestion charge for the larger urban centres - Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick - which will also include recommendations into future city centre parking strategies. While that report won't be returned until the early part of next year, the current thinking is that it is most likely to include a plan to eventually ban purely diesel and petrol cars from city centres with local authorities given the power to implement plans that best suit their needs.
The Government's previously stated plan of ending sales of new purely petrol and diesel cars by 2030 remains in place, but there is a little more (not a lot, admittedly) clarity now on that. There will likely be changes in the next few budgets in terms of VRT and motor tax, to try and push people towards buying an electric car, and there may be a scrappage scheme in 2020 to further encourage buyers. The tax take on diesel and petrol will be equalised over the next couple of years too. In other words, running a diesel is going to become more expensive (which seems counter-intuitive when the idea is to reduce carbon emissions, but anyway...).
There will also be major investment in public electric car chargers, with plans to install sufficient chargers for a national electric car fleet of around 950,000 vehicles by 2030. Local councils will be given a specific budget to install public charging points.
Launching the plan, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that it was designed to "Nudge people and businesses to change behaviour, and find a way forward that is both effective and sensible. One that achieves our targets, and in a way that is thought through and considered, supports employment and living standards and enables a just transition."
Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, said at the launch that there would be a "big modal shift" by 2030, with the plan being to get thousands more to commute to work by bus, bike or on foot. "There is a revolution in transport coming," he said.
The plan is an ambitious one, and arguably one that's badly needed as Ireland is set to be one of the worst offenders in exceeding its Paris Accord carbon emissions limits, and is staring down the barrel of multi-million Euro fines.
The plan will need careful implementation though, especially in the motoring field, if Ireland's drivers - especially those that still rely on their cars because of decades-long under-investment in public transport - are not to be unfairly over-burdened with cost.