Delay in ban on new fossil-fuelled car sales branded ‘hugely disappointing’

The Government’s decision not to proceed with a ban on fossil fuel car sales from 2030 has been criticised as “hugely disappointing” by the Irish Electric Vehicle (EV) Owners Association.

The 2030 ban was part of the programme for government, agreed almost three years ago, but the plan has been shelved after the European Union told the Government that the ban would breach EU competition rules and that it would have to wait until an EU-wide ban from 2035.

The programme for government commitment to proceed with the 2030 ban predated the European Parliament vote to start the ban from 2035, pushing back plans for domestic legislation.

A spokeswoman for the Minister for the Environment and Transport Eamon Ryan said the Government had sought to stop the registration of new fossil-fuelled cars from 2030.

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But the European Commission indicated that a complete ban “in a single member state is not compatible with EU law and an EU-wide approach is therefore required”, she said.

[ Councils reluctant to invest in EV infrastructure should be guided by Government, committee hears ]

Eamon Stack, policy officer with the Irish EV Owners Association, said it was “ridiculous” that Ireland could not ban sales of new fossil fuel car before other EU member states.

He argued that “‘Green Ireland’ should be 100 per cent green before everybody else.”

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“Ireland had an opportunity to lead the way. The automotive industry is really struggling to change,” he said.

“What they have to understand is we don’t have a choice but to change because of our CO² emissions and because of the destruction of the planet by 100 years of fossil fuel cars. It is hugely disappointing that we don’t take the lead here.”

The Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green Coalition had set out a target in its 2020 programme to pass legislation to ban the registration of new fossil-fuelled cars and light vehicles from 2030 onwards.

[ Is Ireland doing better at public transport than we thought? ]

Last October, the European Parliament and Council agreed that all new cars and vans registered in Europe will be zero-emission by 2035. It set an interim target of average emissions on new cars to be reduced by 55 per cent by 2030 and on new vans by 50 per cent by 2030.

Ireland is not the only country to see its planned move away from fossil fuel cars delayed by the EU. In 2018, Denmark said it would ban the sale of all fossil fuel-powered cars by 2030 but it subsequently scrapped the plan because it would have breached EU regulations.

Brian Cooke, director general of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, said it had long-believed that it would be “very hard” to introduce a unilateral ban on the sale of a product allowed in every other EU country under the bloc’s rules.

He said it made sense for the Government to follow the same timeline as the EU as it would still be a challenge to meet its target of 845,000 EV cars on Irish roads by 2030.

“For us to realistically have a 2030 target it would have required incentives to be put in place for a very long period of time,” said Mr Cooke.

“This probably gives the Government a bit of breathing space. It certainly gives the industry a bit of breathing space.”

Mr Ryan’s spokeswoman said the plan to achieve 100 per cent EV car sales before 2030 remained “on track”.