"Green" policies are destroying this country

as far as carbon taxes are concerned - where are the equitable cost replacements? Where are the electric cars for 15 grand new? Energy costs are already through the roof, and carbon taxes are making them more expensive. wheres the alternative? Its all stick and not a lot of carrot. in reality the government should have created a lot of carrot before bringing out the sticks.

If they are serious about doing something about global warming they cant afford to leave any stone unturned. They'll have to just get over the bit of Nox. Anything that isnt oil should be considered an option. I really doubt the electric car + heatpump + roof top solar panels + lots of huge wind turbines everywhere is the 1 and only solution

I realise that efforts have to be made to reduce emissions etc. but honestly all this talk of retrofitting in a little pinprick of a country like Ireland is a bit OTT for the benefit to the World. Wait until China, Russia, India and Brazil and the US contribute to the climate change agenda and then follow. We do not have to be first at everything really.

Paying higher bills for energy costs sounds far better value than lining the pockets of builders and heating engineers. I can afford to retrofit in the morning, but my house is late 60's, thick walls, good insulation and a new eco boiler, the heating bills are not excessive, so I won't be partaking. Don't see the advantage for me in my selfish state of mind.

I'm guessing though that BER ratings will become a minimum standard only (say B) before a mortgage is issued thanks to a new Greenie law or something. Carrot before stick. Watch this space..

That's what I meant, it will become mandatory to have a minimum BER to qualify for a mortgage eventually. Anyway that means that only a small cohort will be able to afford a high BER house (second hand anyway), as the vendors would have had to invest in order to sell.

Cash buyers excepted of course, wasn't it always thus?

This latter is what needs to be watched. The Greens really have become a thorn in the side of the less well off in society. When they were last in, they banned bedsits and this has had significant consequences for those who needed basic and affordable rooms to let. Rental costs rose.

Next we'll have all rental properties to be insulated to new standards. We'll see cases of tenants 'evicted' to allow substantial works to be conducted and then rentals advertised at increased rates, justified by the additional expense. Despite the taxpayer funding this expense in part.

Then we may have minimum BER ratings on mortgages and again screw those who don't toe the Green line.

The motor & construction industries must love the Greens.

The ordinary Sean or Sinead should be wary of them.

https://www.carzone.ie/news/best-brand-new-cars-for-under-15000/2432 - there you go. that real enough for you?

Two years old, before the chip shortage.

A Kia Picanto starts just above 15k, a Toyota Yaris just below 20k, Volkswagen Polo starts well over 20k. The i10 starts over 15k. Nissan Micra starts at 19k. Those are the cheapest prices from the five most popular brands.

You might be able to buy a basic Dacia Sandero for under 15k, but that would be the very basic model.

The Toyota Yaris Luna costs €20,880 versus €24,240 for the hybrid version.

Given current petrol prices and consumption levels for those cars, once you drive more than 100k over the lifetime of the car, the hybrid is cheaper. As the carbon tax increases over the next few years, the distance you have to drive to make the hybrid better value falls.

"A car battery for the electric car weighs about 500 kg, the volume is the size of a suitcase. It contains 12 kg of lithium, 30 kg of nickel, 20 kg of manganese, 15 kg of cobalt, 100 kg of copper, 200 kg of aluminum (production is extremely power-hungry), steel and plastic. Inside are 6831 lithium-ion cells.

It should be of concern that all these toxic components come from mining. For example, to make a car battery, you have to process 10 tons of brine to produce lithium, 15 tons of ore for the cobalt, 2 tons of ore for nickel and 12 tons of ore for the copper. A total of 200 tonnes are dug up from the earth's crust for a single battery.

Diseases and child labor are found behind 68% of the world's cobalt and a significant part of a battery comes from Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we include all these sick children as part of the cost of an electric car?"

https://abounderrattelser.fi/elbilars-batteri-och-sol-vindkraftverk/ (you'll need google translate)

To which you can add all the environmental and real costs in terms of generating power to charge them. It's a three card trick.

The only sustainable way to tackle 'climate change' in terms of transport emissions is to drastically limit it. That's the honest message that the Greens should be preaching. Not this consumerism and churn the market ideology. They really have their lost their way enroute to power.

I'm not a fan of the Greens by any means to such an extent that if any of them call to my door canvassing, they'll be run out the gate pronto. Pack of merchant bankers if you get my drift.

That said, I think it's gas the way the Greens are being blamed for everything when it's really FF/FG who have the most power in Government. They make up far and away the largest portion of the Government. FF = 36 TD's. FG = 34 TD's. Greens = 12 TD's. So it's 70 v 12 yet the 12% get all the criticism for any environmental or Green legislation.

Does this even mention the plundering of fresh water reserves in south America to purify the lithium? But screw them and their ecosystem, I have green virtue signaling I need to do here!

Cobalt now has definitive links to cancer too, but at least we're saving the planet.