The Fine Gael Environment Spokesperson Deputy Richard Bruton has criticised Ireland’s dependence on cars, saying that the country does “not need 3 million vehicles that are idle 98% of the time.”
The former Minister for the Environment was speaking during a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action on April 23rd, which dealt with the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently-published Climate Change Assessment.
Calling for climate action to become a “question of national pride,” the longtime Dublin Bay North TD hit out at current overreliance on cars, saying that this was “a symptom of excessive use,” and he called for new transportation options like greater vehicle sharing.
“We do not need 3 million vehicles that are idle 98% of the time. We could do with far fewer vehicles and people could still have the freedom of some sort of choice,” Deputy Bruton stated.[1]
The comments come amidst ongoing moves by the government to change the country’s car usage patterns, as the sharp fall in electric vehicle sales threatens to derail the coalition’s goal of transforming the car fleet and having almost one million EVs on the road by 2030.[2][3]
In March, the Minister for Transport and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan launched the ‘Moving Together’ transport strategy which is aimed at reducing congestion and car dependency, while opening a public consultation on this issue.
Announcing the move, Minister Ryan noted the 215% increase in the number of licensed vehicles which has occurred in Ireland between 1985-2021, including an extra 1.5 million private cars, and stated that “instead of giving us freedom and saving us time, too many cars on the road has brought about the very opposite effect.”[4]
According to the Department of Transport’s most recent figures, the total number of taxed vehicles recorded on Irish roads stands at 2,919,005.
There were over 2.25 million passenger cars on Ireland’s roads at the end of 2022: a slight increase on the previous year’s figures.[5]
Although the overall proportion of journeys in Ireland being made by car has fallen slightly in recent years, CSO statistics still show that more than 70% of journeys are made in cars, with the proportion being higher still in rural areas.[6]
[1] Oireachtas.ie, ‘Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action debate,’ https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_environment_and_climate_action/2024-04-23/2/
[2] Society of the Irish Motor Industry, ‘3.6% Decrease in New Car Registrations for April 2024,’ https://www.simi.ie/en/news/3-6-decrease-in-new-car-registrations-for-april-2024
[3] Government of Ireland, ‘Climate Action Plan 2023,’ 94a5673c-163c-476a-921f-7399cdf3c8f5.pdf
[4] Department of Transport, ‘New Government Strategy to Manage and Reduce Congestion,’ https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/c6156-new-government-strategy-to-manage-and-reduce-congestion/
[5] Department of Transport, ‘Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics 2022,’ https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/262816/9d7a6354-2599-47f4-b4f4-ad6345ccd297.pdf#page=null
[6] Central Statistics Office, ‘Travel Behaviour Trends 2021,’ https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ntstb/travelbehaviourtrends2021/howwetravelled/#:~:text=At%20an%20overall%20level%2C%20journeys,the%20same%20period%20in%202019.
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FFG: “more cars bad, more immigrants good”
What Minister Ryan does not tell you and this applies particularly to rural dwellers is that Electric Vehicles are not designed for, or suitable for, the following: Towing a livestock trailer, a turf trailer, a boat trailer, a dog trailer, a caravan, a tent trailer, or carrying a roof rack, or bike rack. All of the above will seriously reduce the range of your E V. It is only a matter of time before some E V owner gets stuck in snow during bad weather, puts on the heater to stay warm, battery runs flat, motorist freezes to death. Your Turbo Diesel can do all of the above! Stay warm.
We can have 6 million if we want!
Is this the brother of the fella who is on the committee of 300 who wants to depopulate the planet to 500k people and enslave them. Pretty tame comment from a genocidal lunatic. We dont need a hundreds of communist genocidal politicians either but they have no interest in taking the message and going away either. The man was always a vile pos, I dont know how he ever got elected.
I am confused.” current overreliance on cars, saying that this was “a symptom of excessive use,” ” and ““We do not need 3 million vehicles that are idle 98% of the time”.. What is it? Idleness or excessive use.?
They can’t have 15 minute cities when we have cars!
When I can get public transport to work in the time I can drive, I might consider giving up my car. 2hrs vs 40min is a huge time difference
Agreed. And you’re totally at the whim of the bus company. They don’t show up, tough. They show up but drive right on past, tough.
The amount of CO2 produced by the luxury of having a car to drive for practical purposes is considerably less than all the flights of Richard Bruton and his fellow politicians. How about him being restricted to a short flight every five years or a long one every ten? I have only taken two short flights the past ten years to a visit a son. Our politicians need to prove their aims are practical and affordable and will achieve their goals before imposing them on the rest of the population.
Agree, nobody wants to face up to the aviation industry and their cheap flights. The farmers are the subject of constant bashing by the media on their emissions and climate change. Meanwhile, the pages are full of greenwashing propaganda by the likes of Ryanair on how clean they are. They also mention all the greenhouse gas emission offsetting they are doing by growing trees in third world countries. Most of these schemes do not stand up to independent scrutiny and some have even been termed as scams. We are told the industry is going to use SAF (Sustainable Air Fuels) tomorrow so that you can fly with zero Carbon impact. These fuels will cost multiples of the current fuel and they really have no intention of using them. They also omit to say that even if they use SAFs, the amount of H2O vapour emitted will still be the same. The latter is also a potent greenhouse gas in the upper atmosphere as John Tyndall discovered many years ago.
Says the man who most likely had a private car alongside the state car when in his minister job. Another sermon from a hypocrite.
My toilet is idle 98% of the time. Does that mean I do not need it?
Feck yer friochtain (frying pan) as an fuinneog ! as it’s futile 99.99% of the time.
The elites telling the rest of us to get rid of our cars while doing the opposite themselves.
No, I will keep driving my diesel, heating my house with oil and wood and eating meat and drinking alcohol when ever I feel like it.
Nothing they say or do will change that.
Go away now.
Another politician from planet moron using the climate scam lie of his puppeteers as a reason to propose reduction of the living standards of ordinary people.
Represent us who elect you, not Soros and Gates.
Is he still around. I haven’t heard anything from him in years. Never had no opinion on the trans idiosy, the covid-19 jabs, the plantation of our country, putting pornographic books in our primary schools, never heard a word from on these issues. I was of opinion he was gone
Or the WHO Treaty 24 may 2024
Ireland doesn’t need three dozen more TDs either in spite of the government induced massive population increase.