"Green" policies are destroying this country

Is that not what the local propert tax is all about?

Just imagine if we shoveled another fortune towards solar with an 11% capacity we might even give Eamon Ryan that one Summer day he recently mentioned where for all that day solar would provide our energy needs.

Personally I can think of much better ways of spending yet another fortune than making Eamon Ryan happy for a day.

90% of it is and so far I wouldn't trust the TFI to deliver something to the extent I'd allow them the make large changes to roads and streets.

For example, on Bus Corridor 13 the first public consolation was an embarrassment for them, they hadn't even checked basic facts using Google street view or gone for drive along in. They said there was no on street parking in Shankill village when there is and it's very busy. They said the route was 13KM long when it's 13 miles so they can't even get the units wright.

With something like the 145 and 46A they could have more going into town in the morning than going out and more going out of town in the evening. Make them a 145X or 46X that terminates at UCD on the return journey, then they can slip back to the depo. Part of the problem with congestion is that nobody wants to use the busses, fix that and some of congestion goes away.

The approach Eamon Ryan is taking is that they will bully people out of their cars. That's not going to work. We are missing all our green targets, they keep setting new ones that are frankly unachievable so nobody has faith in them. For example

"The plan includes a climate action roadmap for every sector of the economy consistent with the legally binding target of a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Emissions from electricity, for instance, are to be cut by 75%; transport by 50%; residential buildings by 40%; and agriculture by 25%."

There is no way it is possible to cut emissions from electricity by 75% by 2030. We would need x 10 times the grid scale storage we have now and x 10 the wind generation. Even if we tried to put solar on every roof, we don't have enough tradesmen to do it.

So you want homeowners propping up the demands of pedestrians?

They already do?

The local propert tax goes towards the council budget for services which includes footpaths, lighting, tree cutting etc.

Targets on transport emissions can be met by a new tax on all car & vehicle owners living in designated urban areas, whether ICE or EV. No exceptions.

Use this tax to provide cheaper/ free public transport in same areas and improve public transport options outside urban areas.

LPT goes into the general pot in each authority and is already used for services which also included cycle lanes, local roads upkeep and cleaning etc. But you only seem to be getting excited over cyclists for some reason. I wonder why?

You're from a dictatorship? Alrighty then 🤣

Thanks for once again confirming you haven't a clue how our government works.

You're making an absolute fool of yourself now comparing Ireland to North Korea but obviously you don't seem to have a problem with doing that.

Free transport is pointless as it isn't up to scratch and couldn't cope with the increased demand. It would just make everyone's experience worse.

It isn't possible, these things have a lead time, we have minimal grid scale storage at present, the ESB are only piloting it over the last few years. Storage sites would need planning, the site constructed the batteries ordered built, installed, commissioned and tested... These aren't packets of crisps that are sitting in warehouse somewhere. The construction of offshore wind and associated landfall would have an even longer lead time. 2030 targets are more like 2050

Not only that, but the filthiest of fossil fuels running in extremely inefficient, aging plants.

Moneypoint's coal and Tarbert's heavy fuel oil are the only things preventing a lights out most days when there isn't much wind.

The more we continue down the electrification route, the harder it's going to be to switch these plants off, because our only firm plans around dispatchible generation currently is to have removed even more of it from the grid by 2030.

We have nowhere near the capacity required to replace Moneypoint and Tarbert coming online in the form of new gas generation, the vast majority of what was awarded at the most recent auction has fallen through.

7GW of offshore wind without Moneypoint and Tarbert would have left us cold and dark on a week last week. And that's if you assume the various industry contributors to the Hot Mess podcast that predicted we'll have exactly 0GW of offshore online by 2030 are very wrong.

There is quite simply no grid scale storage available today, even to meet our relatively small grid, nor is there any indication that it's coming by 2030. The ESB's roadmap appears not to have even been costed, so it too is far from the breaking ground stage.

Our grid demand is also rising all the time so we're not even standing still at the moment, we're falling further and further behind of where the plans are to be which means we have further and further catching up to do the longer we leave it.