Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 March 2022

Public Accounts Committee

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A lot of the vehicles on the list are SUVs that will never be off the road because they were purchased in the Dublin area. The other figures I got relate to where cars were bought. The latest figure I received for the total number of electric cars in County Laois, for example, is 457 and there were 349 in County Offaly. In Dublin there were 21,519. If we look at the figures for cars bought last year, 210 were bought in County Laois, 167 were bought in County Offaly and 9,816 were bought in Dublin. The list from the Department shows that of the charging points available, there are just ten in County Laois, eight in County Offaly and 159 in Dublin. If we look at the grants that were paid last year, 153 people in County Laois received grants, a lesser figure in County Offaly of 145 received grants, and there were 5,087 in County Dublin. I want to be clear that I am not having a go at people who live in County Dublin, but there is a very high percentage of the large vehicles, which are worth between €50,000 and €60,000. It is possible to buy a good electric car for €35,000 or €40,000, and as Mr. Meally pointed out, the price is going down. He mentioned the value to the State. In effect, what is happening is that people living in rural counties are driving the longest distances because they are not living within the 15-minute city that is promoted by the Minister. It is good for people who do live in such areas. We want people to live nearer to where they work. The point I make is that a greater level of benefit would be achieved environmentally if people in rural areas who are on average incomes or the median wage were able to buy an electric car and had the charging points, which they clearly do not have, because across two counties in the midlands there are only 18 charging points, as opposed to 159 in Dublin. Given the way this has worked out, people in rural areas, who will be caught for higher carbon taxes, excise and everything else, are effectively subsidising others - in general, a better-off cohort who live in County Dublin and who travel short distances in areas where there is public transport available - to buy very large vehicles, according to the figures given by the Department of Transport. There is a significant transfer here. It goes completely against logic. There are issues to be addressed in that regard. I know there are many poor people in Dublin. There are tens of thousands of people in Dublin on very low wages, but the figures show that the vast majority of cars are being bought in city areas or close to city areas where there is the least environmental benefit or need because there is public transport available and they are travelling short distances. Does Mr. Meally accept the logic of what I am saying, that there is an issue there to be addressed? People on the median wage in rural areas are effectively subsidising the purchase of luxury vehicles where they are least needed.

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