An SUV tax is such populist nonsense. We already (correctly) tax vehicles based on emissions, and the more fuel you use if you’re in fact using a gas guzzler, the more tax you pay on that too.
” The report raises doubts that extra renewable electricity from wind and solar farms will be rolled out fast enough to meet the demand. ”
Why is this taking so long? Any proposals which seek to materially cut fuel use are unrealistic in my view, and at best you can slowly move the fuel mix. We need more clean energy supply, and it seems to be taking forever to get it built. We are tremendously good at producing reports, plans and frameworks however, perhaps we could divert some of these resources into actually delivering things?
Restrictions on flights. You can fuck off
And switch to what? You want me to gamble a lot of money on an ‘air to water system’ that is reliant on Irelands current electicity suppliers keeping prices sustainable? Or will I stick with oil and have (reasonable) global stability. The price of electricity is by default indexed to oil prices, but you have the added insecurity of electric companies rimming us. This doesn’t apply to oil prices because of the north. If it gets too high we all just go up north, whereas we can’t do this with electricity.
We don’t need the grants as much as we need gaurantees, price limits and sustainability. Same goes for electric vehicles. Its the uncertainty that always puts me off these things.
Cue the price of heat pumps going up, the SUV class not caring, and flight taxes that do nothing other than add to the cost of living for everyone
We do live in a lot of extremely inefficient housing, because it’s mostly a legacy of cheap build with crap insulation.
I have relatives who literally can’t heat their homes. One in thinking of in particular has an old oil fired heating system, single glazing etc. It’s a nice layout of early 1970s house, but it’s bloody freezing. You can’t heat it. Turn on the heating it’s warm – turn it off and it’s freezing 20 mins later.
We all know homes that are like that – cold and with that musty dampness in winter. It’s not unusual at all. There are plenty of Irish households where it’s not unusual to be cold in bed, to rely on hot water bottles and there’s a huge % of solid fuel use too.
It direly needs insulation and an upgrade and I would say there’s a huge % of Irish homes like that.
Heat pumps alone won’t solve it and a lot of people simply can’t afford to do the upgrades.
Also a lot of rental accommodation here is just diabolical. Cold, damp, ludicrously inefficient buildings and there’s no incentive at all to upgrade them, even though the owners are receiving huge rents.
I’d love to change my heating system myself, but I don’t have a spare 20 grand, which is realistically what it would cost and it’s massively disruptive too. It involves digging up floors, redoing décor, massive amounts of external work. It’s just not feasible financially.
Unless they can come up with a straight swap for a gas boiler, capable of outputting hot water at the same temp to heat older radiators and that can run at most a similar price per kWh of heat output. It’s not going to be something most households can afford.
One of the biggest risks is we’re going to end up with very well insulated, very efficient wealthy household with low heating costs and very cold lower income households who will be unable to adequately adapt and will just go cold.
There are a lot of low and middle income households where this stuff is pipe dreams.
Why would you penalize vehicles on type rather than emissions?
…and if Ireland were to completely dissappear off the face off the earth tomorrow, the reduction in global Co2 would be completely negligable. These proposed new measures are nothing more than absurd, green tyranny. The lunatics are in charge of the assylum.
> A boiler scrappage scheme to encourage homeowners to install electric heat pumps
Will they give me the €100k to bring my house up to a BER rating that will make a heat pump effective too?
This is a good start. Hopefully after this they can focus on improving public transport and bike infrastructure, and then we’l be able to move away from cars I’m general.
Oil is expensive, and I can just about afford the oil to heat this shit house from the 70s.
All this horseshit is “look, you just pay the 50 grand to externally insulate and redo the heating system and windows, and we’ll give you back 10 grand – bargain right?
Eh, no….I essentially have oil pissing out through the walls and windows, but I also don’t have the cash upfront to retrofit, so all this chat of schemes means zilch to me, and I’d bet I’m not the only one.
Im already taxed enough and don’t get any benefit for it
I am constantly feeling that they are trying to make us emigrate. A lot of households are struggling and their strategy is make things even more expensive.
I’ve been wondering what happens to people in listed buildings that cannot be insulated in any way.
According to Ireland’s EHA, transport (aviation, road, railway, water-borne navigation, and other transportation including gas pipeline transportation). Account for 19.1% of Ireland’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions. By comparison, 24% UK & over 50% NZ.
In Ireland, road transport makes up the vast majority of this 19.1%. Details aren’t provided breaking this down further, but the UK shows that car emissions have reduced by 28% since 1990 with no change in miles travelled*.
Transport emission figures in Ireland dropped by over 16% during Covid and haven’t returned to their pre Covid levels. Over the next 6 years the EHA predicts Transport Emissions will drop by a further 35%.
Any reduction in Greenhouse gases is to be welcomed but private motorists in Ireland are seen as a very soft target. We’ve moved from engine size to Co2 levels and soon weight will be added. Wonder what they’ll do when battery technology improves, and weight reduces. Can’t wait for them to explain all that along with VRT to our northern cousins during reunification talks.
16 comments
An SUV tax is such populist nonsense. We already (correctly) tax vehicles based on emissions, and the more fuel you use if you’re in fact using a gas guzzler, the more tax you pay on that too.
” The report raises doubts that extra renewable electricity from wind and solar farms will be rolled out fast enough to meet the demand. ”
Why is this taking so long? Any proposals which seek to materially cut fuel use are unrealistic in my view, and at best you can slowly move the fuel mix. We need more clean energy supply, and it seems to be taking forever to get it built. We are tremendously good at producing reports, plans and frameworks however, perhaps we could divert some of these resources into actually delivering things?
Restrictions on flights. You can fuck off
And switch to what? You want me to gamble a lot of money on an ‘air to water system’ that is reliant on Irelands current electicity suppliers keeping prices sustainable? Or will I stick with oil and have (reasonable) global stability. The price of electricity is by default indexed to oil prices, but you have the added insecurity of electric companies rimming us. This doesn’t apply to oil prices because of the north. If it gets too high we all just go up north, whereas we can’t do this with electricity.
We don’t need the grants as much as we need gaurantees, price limits and sustainability. Same goes for electric vehicles. Its the uncertainty that always puts me off these things.
Cue the price of heat pumps going up, the SUV class not caring, and flight taxes that do nothing other than add to the cost of living for everyone
We do live in a lot of extremely inefficient housing, because it’s mostly a legacy of cheap build with crap insulation.
I have relatives who literally can’t heat their homes. One in thinking of in particular has an old oil fired heating system, single glazing etc. It’s a nice layout of early 1970s house, but it’s bloody freezing. You can’t heat it. Turn on the heating it’s warm – turn it off and it’s freezing 20 mins later.
We all know homes that are like that – cold and with that musty dampness in winter. It’s not unusual at all. There are plenty of Irish households where it’s not unusual to be cold in bed, to rely on hot water bottles and there’s a huge % of solid fuel use too.
It direly needs insulation and an upgrade and I would say there’s a huge % of Irish homes like that.
Heat pumps alone won’t solve it and a lot of people simply can’t afford to do the upgrades.
Also a lot of rental accommodation here is just diabolical. Cold, damp, ludicrously inefficient buildings and there’s no incentive at all to upgrade them, even though the owners are receiving huge rents.
I’d love to change my heating system myself, but I don’t have a spare 20 grand, which is realistically what it would cost and it’s massively disruptive too. It involves digging up floors, redoing décor, massive amounts of external work. It’s just not feasible financially.
Unless they can come up with a straight swap for a gas boiler, capable of outputting hot water at the same temp to heat older radiators and that can run at most a similar price per kWh of heat output. It’s not going to be something most households can afford.
One of the biggest risks is we’re going to end up with very well insulated, very efficient wealthy household with low heating costs and very cold lower income households who will be unable to adequately adapt and will just go cold.
There are a lot of low and middle income households where this stuff is pipe dreams.
Why would you penalize vehicles on type rather than emissions?
…and if Ireland were to completely dissappear off the face off the earth tomorrow, the reduction in global Co2 would be completely negligable. These proposed new measures are nothing more than absurd, green tyranny. The lunatics are in charge of the assylum.
> A boiler scrappage scheme to encourage homeowners to install electric heat pumps
Will they give me the €100k to bring my house up to a BER rating that will make a heat pump effective too?
This is a good start. Hopefully after this they can focus on improving public transport and bike infrastructure, and then we’l be able to move away from cars I’m general.
Oil is expensive, and I can just about afford the oil to heat this shit house from the 70s.
All this horseshit is “look, you just pay the 50 grand to externally insulate and redo the heating system and windows, and we’ll give you back 10 grand – bargain right?
Eh, no….I essentially have oil pissing out through the walls and windows, but I also don’t have the cash upfront to retrofit, so all this chat of schemes means zilch to me, and I’d bet I’m not the only one.
Im already taxed enough and don’t get any benefit for it
I am constantly feeling that they are trying to make us emigrate. A lot of households are struggling and their strategy is make things even more expensive.
I’ve been wondering what happens to people in listed buildings that cannot be insulated in any way.
According to Ireland’s EHA, transport (aviation, road, railway, water-borne navigation, and other transportation including gas pipeline transportation). Account for 19.1% of Ireland’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions. By comparison, 24% UK & over 50% NZ.
In Ireland, road transport makes up the vast majority of this 19.1%. Details aren’t provided breaking this down further, but the UK shows that car emissions have reduced by 28% since 1990 with no change in miles travelled*.
Transport emission figures in Ireland dropped by over 16% during Covid and haven’t returned to their pre Covid levels. Over the next 6 years the EHA predicts Transport Emissions will drop by a further 35%.
Any reduction in Greenhouse gases is to be welcomed but private motorists in Ireland are seen as a very soft target. We’ve moved from engine size to Co2 levels and soon weight will be added. Wonder what they’ll do when battery technology improves, and weight reduces. Can’t wait for them to explain all that along with VRT to our northern cousins during reunification talks.
*https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1169808/tra0101.ods
Electric suv should also be included as they weigh so much destroying roads and the toxic micro plastic particles from these tyres are off the scale