John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I turn to vehicle registration tax, VRT, for diesel and petrol. I attended a conference earlier where somebody stated that, when taken in the round, the impact of electric cars will be to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 20%. In light of all the ballyhoo, that is not very significant and it does not take into account that when they are run in Ireland, they probably are powered by fossil fuels. What is the Minister's latest thinking in that regard? We could be very good in Ireland, given that the Minister is late in addressing the matter. Perhaps that is not a bad thing for devising policy because we can learn from other countries. The matter is reflected in car sales. Consumers are confused about the best step to take. Should it be hybrid or electric or where are we going to be? I am not trying to trap the Minister but instead trying to understand his thinking on the matter.