State urged to give €10k grants to encourage electric vehicle switch
Low-income households should be provided with grants of up to €10,000 to make the switch to electric vehicles, the Climate Change Advisory Council has said.
Ireland is on course to miss its carbon emission reduction targets for the transport sector, a 50% reduction by 2030, as set out in the Climate Action Plan, exposing the State to substantial EU fines.
Transport emissions decreased by just an estimated 1.3% last year, and the Climate Change Advisory Council has now called for urgent Government intervention. Pic: Getty Images
The key to delivering emissions reductions in the transport sector is ending its reliance on harmful and expensive fossil fuels, Business Plus reports.
An increase in new battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations and the achievement of targets for BEV adoption under the Climate Action Plan must be realised.
To drive this forward, the Council has recommended that grants of up to €10,000 (for BEVs with a purchase price of less than €35,000) be provided for lower-income households. Pic: Matt Rakowski/Shutterstock
In parallel, there needs to be an accelerated roll-out of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Marie Donnelly, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council said: 'Transport is Ireland's biggest source of energy demand, and emissions from the sector must reduce by half if the sector is to meet its target.
'Supports should be aimed at increasing affordability and lower emission options, such as a larger grant for new BEVs under €35,000, are necessary to assist the Government to achieve its own targets in this area.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
22 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Next day or two crucial in how situation between Iran and Israel develops, says Tánaiste
We could not be in a more dangerous situation, the Tánaiste has said as he warned that the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial in how the current situation between Iran and Israel plays out. Simon Harris said there are a number of risks at the moment, including a spill-over beyond the two countries, and the message must be about "stepping back from the brink". The position of Ireland and the EU on the matter is that there needs to be an immediate de-escalation and a return to the talks programme. "Nobody wants to see Iran with nuclear capabilities, everybody is aware of the dangers that Iran poses," said Mr Harris. If the Iranians are not willing to engage directly with the US, then it is important that they, at a minimum, engage with the EU, the foreign affairs minister told RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne. "It is almost impossible to overstate the potential danger of this, if there ends up being involvement of other countries, or indeed spill-over into other countries," he said. Ireland, in one sense, is far away from it all, but there are a number of Irish citizens in both countries and there are a significant number of Irish troops in Lebanon, Mr Harris noted. Currently, there are 29 citizens in Iran most of whom are long-term residents and hold dual citizenships while there are around 200 people registered as living in Israel. A small number of these have expressed their desire to leave if the opportunity arises and the Irish embassies have been in contact with them. Mr Harris said Ireland is working with other EU member states and examining the options available to help people to leave in a safe manner. With airspace closed in Iran, the only option is to go over a land border which is "not without risk", Mr Harris explained. "From an Israeli point of view, it means going to maybe Jordan or Egypt where obviously flights can go from. So there are a number of options available to us and we are working very closely with a number of member states," he said. Mr Harris added that they are also looking at how best to support Irish diplomats to effectively operate and in terms of safety and security issues. The Fine Gael leader will attend a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers this Sunday and Monday where he expects discussions will be dominated by the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iran and Israel.
Irish Examiner
22 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Government should shoulder payroll costs in childcare sector, Oireachtas committee told
The Government should take on the payroll costs of childcare providers and make early years educators public sector workers as part of essential reform to the system, an Oireachtas committee has heard. Children's Rights Alliance CEO Tanya Ward told TDs and Senators on the Oireachtas Children's Committee that it could be a 'groundbreaking move'. She said that one in four early years educators are leaving the sector and the main issue is the 'lack of parity of esteem' with the likes of primary school teachers. 'They all go in with the same aspirations, but the primary school teachers will stay in that area of education,' she said. 'And the early years educators won't because they can't live on the wages and salaries. And then any move forward towards affordability, a move towards a public model, the first thing has to be recognition and pay and conditions for the staff working in the services.' In a wide-ranging hearing, the Children's Rights Alliance also fielded questions around the safety of kids online and data on child poverty. Online safety Describing the availability of pornography as a 'massive issue', Ms Ward said the younger a child is when they come into contact with violent pornography, the more damaging it is. 'We are hearing, as you would know, from the rape crisis centers,' she said. 'They are saying it seems to be a feature in some of the sexual assaults that are happening for teenagers. And some of those teenagers present as adults when they come looking for treatment. 'It should be the case that no child should arrive and land on a pornography site, and we need to put the onus actually on the provider to ensure they don't have children accessing the site.' Child poverty She also said that statistics have shown that over 100,000 children in Ireland are living in consistent poverty, 'feeling the grind of deep poverty and the isolation of social exclusion day in, day out'. This has been exacerbated by the housing crisis, leaving thousands of children living day-to-day in emergency accommodation. As well as that, children are living in overcrowded accommodation which is impacting their education and growth. On Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the National Economic Dialogue that recent increases in the number of children living in poverty must become a 'temporary spike, out of line with the overall trend'. 'Therefore, for Budget 2026, I have asked my ministerial colleagues to plan and come forward with measures that will really make the difference to the most vulnerable families and children,' he said.
Irish Independent
36 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Ireland is the second most expensive country in the EU
They show that Ireland is the second most expensive country in the European Union for typical goods and services. Prices here are 38pc above the EU average. We are only behind Denmark when it comes to high prices. Back in 2015 prices were 28pc above average in this country. But since then Ireland has been slowly climbing the 'league of shame' when it comes to the cost of living. The findings from the European statistics agency, Eurostat, will put a new focus on the Government's determination not to pay out universal cost-of-living packages for households in this year's Budget. Eurostat found that when it comes to alcohol and tobacco, prices in Ireland are the most expensive in the EU. They are more than double EU average. Finance expert Daragh Cassidy of price comparison site said this is due to government taxation, and more recently, minimum unit pricing on alcohol. When it comes to alcohol alone, prices here are the second highest in the EU, after Finland. Our prices are almost 198pc of the EU average, or close to double what people are paying in other European countries. Food and non-alcoholic drink prices in Ireland are the third highest in the EU, despite this country being a huge producer of agricultural produce. ADVERTISEMENT We are only behind Luxembourg and Denmark when it comes to food prices. They are almost 15pc above the EU average. However, this is an improvement on recent years, as prices were over 21pc above average in 2020. Restaurant and hotel prices are the second highest in the EU, behind only Denmark, at 29pc above average. Communications costs are almost 40pc above average. And Ireland is also the third most expensive country for electricity, gas and fuel with prices over 17pc above average. In better news, clothing prices are actually 1pc below the EU average and cheaper than in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Non-EU countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland were also included in the research and generally have prices higher than Ireland's. Mr Cassidy of said we have known for a while that Ireland is an expensive country and these figures from Eurostat confirm it. 'There are several reasons why prices here are so high. 'These include: our higher wages, a lack of competition in certain sectors, high taxation on certain goods such as tobacco, alcohol and fuel, and lower government subsidies in certain areas such as public transport and childcare compared to our European neighbours.' He said businesses are also faced with high insurance and energy costs, which then get passed on to consumers. Mr Cassidy said Ireland will never be a cheap place to live. 'And it's worth noting that many of the world's most expensive countries such as Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark also have some of the highest standards of living in the world.' He said that wages in Ireland, while high by international standards, generally don't match the salaries in these countries. At the same time, taxpayers in more expensive countries tend to get back more from the Government in terms of better and more affordable healthcare, childcare and public transport — though there have been welcome improvements made here in Ireland in recent years, Mr Cassidy said. He called for the Government to lower our standard rate of VAT, which at 23pc is one of the highest in the world.
