Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take my Commencement matter. I know it is not directly within his brief; it has more to do with ethanol reform than electoral reform.To the extent that vintage, classic and veteran cars might be affected, maybe it comes in some way under the heading of heritage.

I have spoken on many occasions about the fact that successive Governments have often taken what I think is a self-defeating approach to new measures aimed combating climate change. Measures often almost seem to be designed to rub people up the wrong way or to punish them for living their everyday lives as much as to reduce emissions, etc. This only serves in my view to reduce public support for new policies designed to help the environment which, as opinion polls have often shown, is very low among the public.

Another example of what I am talking about occurred recently when the regulations were published to move Ireland's standard blend of unleaded petrol from E5 to E10. As the Minister of State will be aware, these figures of "5" and "10" refer to the percentage of bioethanol which is blended into the petrol. An increased percentage results in lower carbon emissions, or so we are told. This has already been rolled out in 15 other EU member states. However, there is a big problem which I do not believe the Government has properly addressed so far, which is that many vehicles cannot or should not use the E10 blend, either because their engines were not designed for it or because their engines are susceptible to damage by the E10 blend.

In a press release on 25 February last announcing the change, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, rather blithely stated: "E10 will mean that no vehicle changes are needed to get immediate results for the environment. " He also stated: "All vehicles can operate on an E10 petrol blend." That is not the case. In the very same press release, the Minister referred to a UK Government website which lists a range of makes and models that cannot handle the E10 blend. These include: Ford Mondeos manufactured as recently as 2007; a range of Renaults from as recently as 2003; nine separate models of Volkswagen from 2005; and Fiat Puntos and Fiat Bravos from the same period. I say that these are relatively recent years because many people drive older cars. Obviously, these are not salubrious or high-powered cars. They are standard models used by ordinary people. I do not know, to be honest, how many of these cars are still in use in Ireland but given how common these car makes are, there must be a significant number. I was approached by a person who drives a 2006 Lexus JS300, which, he told me at the time, is one of the few cars that cannot run on E10. This is according to both Lexus and the EU.

We also have the issue that the E10 blend can be damaging, as I have said, to vintage, veteran or classic cars - the older cars - because the higher level of bioethanol absorbs more water into the engine of these cars causing them to corrode. The Irish Vintage Scenemagazine has a piece about this issue on its website. It states: "it will corrode all traditional fuel lines made of brass, copper or rubber, unless the rubber has been upgraded to deal with unleaded fuels. It also degrades aluminium in carburettors and pistons." Ominously, the Minister stated last February: "All vehicle owners and operators are required to maintain their vehicles to operating and roadworthy standards." In other words, it is tough luck on the owners of vintage or veteran cars. If they have a problem with this, they will have to fork out to get their cars upgraded. That is not good enough. It shows a trend of tending to penalise ordinary people rather than working to get their support for climate change measures. If there is a solution, we should be hearing much more about it from the Government.