Irish Examiner view: Driving change

Only 25 of the State’s more than 6,000-strong fleet of vehicles are electrically-powered.

Setting a good example, as any caring parent knows, is everything. Even though it can be reasonably assumed that the majority of people involved in government or public administration are aware of this, the opportunity to change our destructive habits by applying this simple but powerful lesson is not being used as it might be.

Department of Transport figures revealed last week show that only 25 of the State’s more than 6,000-strong fleet of vehicles are electrically-powered. This ratio is so pathetic that it cannot even be described as tokenism.

That those head-in-the-sand figures were published just as the belated Climate Action Bill was published turns a bad joke into something far more unsettling. That Bill outlined the great challenges ahead and the profound, difficult changes needed to deliver its unavoidable objectives yet 6,061 State-owned vehicles — more than 99% — are still diesel or petrol driven. The great majority, 5,641, are diesel.

As any caring parent might say to a challenging teenager: “Cop on, it’s time for you to get real”

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