Quentin Gargan

Quentin Gargan, Green Party Candidate for Cork South West, today described the European Energy Agency report into vehicle emissions growth as an international humiliation for Ireland.

“We try to promote Ireland as a clean green country to tourists throughout Europe, yet this report shows that while growth in transport emissions was 25% across Europe, it was a staggering 140% in Ireland” said Gargan. “Because of a dearth of decent public transport, people in West Cork have no choice but to use their cars for virtually all journeys.”

“We are already way behind in meeting our Kyoto Targets to such an extent that we have to pay almost €300M in fines, yet we are doing nothing tangible to reverse this trend. The Department of the Environment has once again postponed its own proposals to link VRT charges on new cars to CO2 emissions. We now plan to spend a further €38bn on motorway construction in the National Development Plan. This is happening at a time when we should introduce financial incentives to reduce CO2 emissions and build a world-class public transport system so that people are not obliged to travel everywhere by car”

Gargan cites as an example the fact that most buses from his home town of Bantry arrive into Cork just as the train to Dublin is leaving, making a connecting journey impossible. When he recently travelled by bus and train to Drogheda, the journey cost over €100 and took 8 hours. “For a couple, this journey would cost €200 by public transport, compared to €30 or €40 by car. It is little wonder that people who have cars do not use public transport - they can’t afford the time or money!” he said.

“We now know that we are going to have to reduce our CO2 emissions by between 60% and 90% and the sooner we start making changes in that direction, the easier the transition will be. We could see buses to Cork from major towns every fifteen minutes, and trains to Dublin every ten, but there won’t be sufficient demand unless the service is reliable, clean, efficient and most of all, affordable” he added. “Anybody who has a car is not going to pay €24 for a return trip between Bantry and Cork. If you visit to other mainland European countries you will find people who own cars, but choose to travel by train - you won’t find much of that around here” he added.

BACKGROUND Electric Cars an Option for Short Journeys Originally from Dublin, Quentin Gargan lives on a small farm near Bantry where he and his partner Clare Watson have built a low energy house powered by a wind turbine and solar water heating panels. They recently purchased an electric Citroen Berlingo which they plan to charge using a second wind turbine based at their farm. The car was one of many produced during a time when California State was introducing a Zero Emissions Vehicles Mandate which stipulated that 10% of new cars be zero emission by 2003. Intense lobbying resulted in the Mandate being scrapped, and car companies ceased production of all of their zero-emission vehicles. In the U.S.A., electric vehicles produced by Ford and General Motors were subsequently crushed by the manufacturers.

EEA Report The EEA report showed that Ireland’s transport emissions were the second highest in Europe between 1990 and 2004, behind Luxembourg. The average growth in transport emissions among the 32 EU member states was 25%. The report did not take into account emissions from aviation or marine traffic. Land-locked Luxembourg , as part of the border-free Schengen block is unable to restrict the huge volume of traffic passing thought its borders, so in real terms Ireland is probably the worst offender in Europe.

For further information, contact Quentin at 027 52773 or 086 869 3140 Library photos from www.quentingargan.com/press and from Don MacMonagle www.macmonagle.com/