Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week, the 2018 Climate Change Performance Index was published at the UN climate talks in Bonn. It contained the not-so-surprising claim that Ireland is now the single worst performer on climate change action in Europe. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is a central holder of responsibility for this shameful accolade. What have we been doing with the bus fleet all these years? Dublin Bus responded to one of my questions last week. It stated that of the 1,006 buses in operation, zero operated on electricity, zero were hybrids, 530 were purchased in the last six years and every single one of them runs on diesel. It is a crazy situation. The fumes from diesel engines are lethal to humans. The nitrogen dioxide that is produced forms tiny particulates that can lodge in the lungs and leads to dangerous outdoor air pollution that has become the biggest killer in the world at 3 million deaths per year. If there is any diesel in the make-up of low emissions engines, it would be a disaster. Has the health danger been taken into account by the Minister's Department?

See this speech in context