People who live in cities “cannot expect” to continue driving their cars whenever they want given motor vehicles’ impact on the environment, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD has said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics amid the United Nations COP28 climate conference, the Labour Party education spokesman was asked about government proposals to tax SUVs, which are being considered as part of next year’s budget.
Notably, two thirds of the new cars sold in Ireland are classified as SUVs.
“Will you support something like that [proposal]?” Ó Ríordáin was asked by the host.
“We would,” he replied, adding: “I think Irish people have to get their head around the fact that we’re in the middle of climate breakdown.”
The Dublin Bay North TD went on to call for a “radical rethink” of how environmental issues are dealt with, and that the days of being able to drive your car whenever and wherever you want “are over.”
“You can’t point at a flood in the middle of your constituency and say ‘We need more flood defences’” he said.
“We have to have a radical rethink of what we’re handing to our children…we have to have a radical rethink in urban Ireland, and in rural Ireland, as to where we’re going into the future.
“There’s a lot of political cowardice around this across the chamber. We cannot expect in a modern European city in which I live that we can hop in our car whenever we want, drive wherever we want, park wherever we want, regardless of how damaging that is for the environment.”
He added: “Those days are over.”
While visiting Dubai last week at the COP28 summit, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told reporters that Ireland is a “wealthy country,” and as such will honour its commitment of giving €255 million in taxpayer money per year to “help other countries invest in climate action.”
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“The real thing that we can bring to the table as a small country, but also a wealthy country, is helping with climate finance – helping other countries to invest in climate action,” he said.
“We need to put our money where our mouth is and help poorer countries to reduce emissions.”
He added: “By doing so we will help ourselves.”