Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I was looking at the figures for last year and grants were paid out for 1,467 BMW vehicles, 44 Jaguar vehicles, 439 Mercedes-Benz vehicles and 315 Land Rover vehicles.

Payments were made in respect of 174 top-of-the-range Land Rover Evoque vehicles. I welcome the fact that there is a cap on it, but I would argue that the cap is too high. The point I make is that the people who purchased them had cash, or had a very friendly bank manager and the ability to repay the loan. They were able to afford them. An average worker on the median wage, as opposed to the average wage, of approximately €30,000 and living in a rural or semi-rural constituency such as Laois-Offaly would not have a hope of being able to buy even a small electric car at this point, in addition to paying a mortgage and the costs of commuting and everything else. Such workers are essentially paying the carbon tax for the cohort that are able to afford to buy these vehicles. I got the full list from the Department of Transport of what was bought last year and, to be honest, I was taken aback. Instead of welcoming the cap of €60,000, I would argue that it is too high. Does Mr. Meally not think it is too high, especially given the fact that the price of electric cars is going down?