The government is under fire from a Tipperary TD for what’s being described as another attack on rural dwellers.
Leader of the Rural Independent group Mattie McGrath says the push to force people towards electric vehicles is outright ‘police state’ madness.
The government’s target for EVs includes an initial figure of 195,000 by 2025, followed by a further 750,000 from 2026 to 2030.
To achieve this Deputy McGrath says that almost every vehicle purchased here between 2026-2030, new or second-hand, would have to be an EV which he says is not even remotely practical, as no second-hand market for EVs exists, the new options are prohibitively expensive for most people.
The Newcastle based Oireachtas member says the government must wake up to these realities.
Meanwhile a lack of charging points, broken existing ones, or unreliable battery range issues is also an issue according to Mattie McGrath
The strategy to ban the sale of cheaper petrol and diesel cars is a blatant offense on all rural communities, impacting the least well-off and rural motorists the hardest.
He says the Rural Independents Group believes this policy is aligned with the government’s punitive urbanisation policy agenda while it also highlights the lobbying influence of corporate elites.
