"Green" policies are destroying this country

Grow up.

...you would probably find most new ev purchases are probably being done by those higher on socioeconomic scale, leaving most lower on the scale in trouble, this is what happens in an environment of rising wealth inequality, i.e. it creates an environment of reducing opportunities of those lower on the scale in being able to do so, this is ultimately what our political classes dont get, and they really and truly dont get it at all....

Taxi drivers get exceptionally better grants towards EVs than other workers. I have a decent job in a factory and with mortgage and other bills, I know I couldn't afford the repayments in even a base model ID3......

Taxi drivers can get up to 15-20k in combined grants on switching to an EV.

Well, if we rely on wind and solar, then the wind stops blowing in winter, we would need a proven backup to keep the lights on.

We use gas for this. In 2020 57% of electricity was generated by gas.

The Eu are telling all member states to cut gas usage by 15%.

That hole has to be filled somehow, more than likely with coal, but we get coal from Russia so that’s not straightforward either.

The green nuts will tell you there’s nothing to see here, but if we get a prolonged period of high pressure weather with no wind in winter (when solar is at its lowest) the grid will be under big pressure with a 15% gas cut

Forget your grants - they're simply more clueless green thinking

How the heck is the national grid to support the charging of all these electric vehicles when the same grid is being banjaxed by the unreliable nature of renewable generation?

And no the answer isn't more unreliable renewables and whatever other generation / storage technology will have to be firmly in place and maintaining sufficient and reliable supply before the majority move over to EVs or the public transport system is fully electrified and every house in the country is running a heat pump cycling on and off or even running continuously at certain times of the year 24/7.

Even with that all working we will still need backup energy generation for the foreseeable future and that should be our own reserves of gas, biomass and whatever other indigenous resources we can muster.

Even more clueless green policies setting the cart before the horse once again

Modern life demands car ownership because we've designed everything around cars unfortunately. I remember reading most people use their cars for journeys under 2km, which isn't really necessary for most people. I think people in cities could use cars an awful lot less if they wanted to, it's the convenience that people aren't willing to give up. Here in London, even in Soho there's just Range Rover after Range Rover driving around, when they have a world class transport system. Clearly fuel isn't too expensive for a lot of people.

Car sharing is a non runner for many of course, but would also suit a lot of people. When cars lay idle for so long it doesn't really make sense for everyone to need to own one. It's the same with a lot of things, why does every house in a housing estate need a lawn mower? Hopefully apps for sharing things become more common in the coming years, there's so much unnecessary wastage going on.

We all will need to be inconvenienced somewhat if we are serious about reducing emissions, luckily for you we are definitely not serious about reducing emissions!

Why something that can be implemented before 2030 when you are going on about all these "additional" hopes up until 2050 ?

What is it with greens who keep insisting that given time the real major polluters will see the error of their way and change, yet when it comes to Ireland all this change will have to occur before 2030, when from your own post it is clear that those 2030 targets are not going to be met and the hope is that by 2050 there will possibly be "additional" add-ons that will help.

The French are not waiting around for possible additional add-ons of interconnectors, storage or green energy for their energy needs. They are going ahead with building more nuclear power plants that will provide them with zero CO2 emissions electricity. They already have 70% of their electrical need from this energy source, so not a stretch to believe that by 2050 they will have close to 100% without the need for these "additionals"

In the EU from the outset the approach to lowering emissions by the two major players were diametrically opposed. France went with nuclear, Germany went with renewables spending 150 Billion to date, shutting down everything else and relying on Putin`s gas. Greens went with the German approach, (and none moreso that our home breed variety), pushing the German model by way of EU legislation. You do not have to be a genius at this stage to see where it has Germany compared to France.

From your own post on the achievability of these targets, is it not obvious by now that the only way electricity is going to be produced with zero emissions is through nuclear, and all the money being spent on anything else is being wasted just tinkering around the edges and having little or no effect ?

@charlie14

France went nuclear because they previously mostly used oil and then got badly stung by the events around the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Pretty ironic really.

ok but we can't keep carrying on in a way that everyone needs to own a car, it is not sustainable, things like car sharing need to be looked at, I mean it's kind of already in Dublin with the Go Car thing, I know people who've used them from time to time who don't own cars, over here it's Zipcars

Indeed. Whereas France learned from history, Germany learned nothing and dug a hole of their own making doing exactly the opposite with Russia.

All I can tell you is that I have lived long enough to remember what the same formula when used caused among neighbours. I really do not see where repeating it will have a different outcome today. I`m not sure who actually owns the Go Cars but Zipcars are owned by the Avis Budget Group, so basically you would be just paying for short term rental using them mose-so than it being group car sharing.

That is not car sharing. It`s short term rental from a company where practically 100% of usage is for individual needs.