Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we discussed, this committee will do a body of work on the national development plan very shortly that will obviously involve Mr. Spratt, the Minister and the various bodies that will come before us. We will do that very quickly because it is very current.

I will talk about the theme begun by Senator Dooley, namely, electric cars. Everything is now predicated on getting reductions in carbon emissions. We are putting a significant amount into active transport. A figure of €360 million per year is a substantial amount. School transport costs approximately €220 million per annum while €360 million is going into active travel. The question is whether we are getting value for money. It is a serious amount of money. It is approximately €1.5 billion within the space of four years. It is serious money and it is new money. I am looking at it in the round. We have put all this money into active travel and it is very important.

Side by side with that, with the best will in the world, a certain proportion of the population will always want to use cars. That is just the way it is. It is human nature. We are not going to get everyone to switch because there are people living in rural areas and various other factors. The Irish like their cars. It is just a feature of this country. Is enough being done to get people to switch to electric cars more quickly? Like everyone else here, I am considering whether my next car will be an electric one. I would like it to be an electric car. We meet taxi drivers. If I am caught for time, I might take a taxi from Heuston Station. A lot of taxi drivers are switching to electric cars. The incentives are working. It is a business for them. It is their livelihood. I have gone through it with them. They have done the figures. When we are looking at sustainable travel, how much of a focus is there on electric cars in this document? If we got everyone to switch to electric cars in the morning, how much would we reduce carbon emissions by? This committee will do a body of work on it. Do electric cars form part of this document? It goes without saying that we all support what is happening but it is taxpayers' money. Is enough being done with regard to electric cars?