Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I really appreciate his answer. He is correct that we are seeing an effect from the changes brought in last year. My fear is that we are not bringing about change quickly enough. The cars sold in 2021 or 2022 will still be around in 2030, by which stage, obviously, the challenge is to reduce emissions across all sectors by approximately 51%. Transport will probably have to do more than other sectors, so taxation policy should join with that target. I know that every effort is being made to ensure it does, but we have to be absolutely confident that we are not creating a problem for ourselves in eight or nine years' time.

The second point I mentioned, of which I know the Minister is abundantly aware, is the wall of cash that is there. We do not want the personal savings that have built up in the past 18 months during the pandemic to leave the country. There are much better uses for that money, particularly in the area of retrofit and so on. I will leave it at that. I would appreciate hearing the response of the Minister.