Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree. In the context of our foreign affairs, we would work with many countries in Africa that might be producers of those minerals. We do not look at our development aid through a climate lens alone; we have to look at the bigger picture. I will be honest. We have to look at the volume of cobalt and copper that will be needed. One of the ways of bringing down the cost of cars would be to push innovative and new car-sharing arrangements. Most cars are parked 95% of the time. One of the ways of bringing down the cost of cars is to promote car-sharing systems where everyone can get access to a car and where the copper and cobalt in those vehicles is efficiently used all the time, rather than just 5% of the time. The scale of the change and transition we make will evolve; it will not just replicate the current system. That is one very good way of bringing down the cost.

My original role was in transport campaigning. The basic and obvious thing I learned was that in Dublin city, my city, half of the households did not own cars. It was as if the entire transport system was all about the other half who did have cars. The switch to public transport investment and active travel by walking and cycling is a social justice issue as much as a transport and climate issue. It is recognising that many families cannot afford a car. If we invest 2:1 in buses and the public transport system, versus roads, it is not just good for climate, it is good for social policy. That is not to say that someone who is driving a car is bad. It is just recognising the reality. Large numbers, approximately 45%, of Dublin city householders do not own a car. They were forgotten about for decades in terms of where the priorities and investment should be. That is part of the social justice agenda, as we deliver a just transition.