Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 23 March 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed)

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

That is very significant. As for the reason for that, there may be a knock-on effect whereby people think that because other cars are big, they also need a bigger car to protect themselves, and there may be a circular effect in that regard on the size of cars. We need to design the transport system differently and, as the OECD maintains, we need to do it by design because we have been doing it the other way for many decades. We need to create a safe space for more vulnerable road users, shift to other public transport modes and promote lighter vehicles in whatever way we can through our advertising of the system, and we will do that. We should not, however, go about it on the basis of naming and shaming. I am not sure that would bring us in the direction we need to go.

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