Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have to apologise for speaking to my colleague while other speakers were speaking. I had to try to work out if Deputy Leddin had somehow inserted an amendment into the Bill that we would make electric vehicles mandatory. Of course we are not doing so. In may ways those who have spoken have outlined exactly what the challenges are. There is a shortage of electric vehicles. They are expensive. There is no second-hand market. It is incredibly difficult for people who are struggling with the cost of living to try to make decisions that are carbon neutral. My understanding of the amendments and the broader commitment in the programme for Government is that we are trying to meet these challenges rather than using them as an excuse to say we do not want to have change.

Many people in the House speak about agreeing that climate change is a factor. We know all human activity has an impact on the planet. We want to be able to drive from Dublin to Kerry. We want to be able to do so when fossil fuels are gone. We want to continue to be able to have the type of lifestyle we do while reducing the impact on the planet. We have effectively taken all of the sea creatures and vegetation that took millions of years to distil into oil and in the space of 200 years we have burned it all. We put it all in our atmosphere. It will run out. When this happens we want to keep driving to Kerry so we have to find a different way of doing so. One of the ways of doing so is with electronic vehicles. I have no doubt that humankind will find other ways of meeting the challenge.

My understanding of the amendment and the broader point the Minister is making is that infrastructure is key. Deputy Mattie McGrath speaks about the lack of infrastructure and he is right. It is not a reason for us not to have electric vehicles, it is a reason for us to have better infrastructure. The amendment speaks about favouring versions of low-carbon travel other than electric vehicles. The Deputies might have missed the irony of their contributions. It includes electric cycling and e-scooters in the scope of the Bill and not only electric vehicles. The Deputies should be voting in favour of the amendment because they are encouraging us-----

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