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.