Professor Hannah Daly:

I thank Senator Boylan. Unfortunately, I am not aware of measures at EU level and defer to my colleagues in this regard.

Sixteen hundred kilogrammes is approximately the average weight of new diesel cars in Ireland. While the tax in France kicks in at approximately 1,600 kg, the Norwegian tax kicks in at a lower, but steadily increasing, rate from approximately 1,300 kg. It is worth bearing in mind that different countries have different designs.

The Senator asked about different ways of disincentivising fossil-fuel car sales at different levels. It is important to address company cars. I am not aware of research that looks specifically at the company car market but I am aware that the tax incentive might not be well designed.

There are other ways of disincentivising fossil-fuel car sales. For example, I have seen a proposal that each city would announce an end date when fossil-fuel cars can drive through the city. That will have to come, as, for example, Cork and Dublin have committed to become net-zero cities in the 2030s and that would require no fossil-fuel cars being driven in the cities. Sending that signal now and making that announcement now would send a very powerful forward-looking signal to the car market and would indicate that any new fossil-fuel cars being bought would become effectively stranded assets or would reduce in value as they would not be allowed to be driven in cities.