Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is why these targets have been revised downwards. I am dealing with the situation that is in front of me currently. The advice that is available to myself and the public is that electric vehicles will make financial sense for the vast majority of drivers in this country within the next four years. The reality is that diesel vehicles have very little value at trade-in now because dealerships know that the long-term prognosis for diesel is that it will be gone. Drivers are already shifting from diesel to hybrids. We need to drive the incentive further towards electric vehicles. If I were to ramp up the financial supports available for electric vehicles today, I could guarantee that some other colleagues in the House in the not too distant future would be talking about a debacle of the type seen in Northern Ireland with the renewable heating incentive scheme here in the Republic in respect of electric vehicles.

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