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The Sunday Business Post has reported that delegates
at the Green Party annual conference next weekend will consider
a motion to remove the year of manufacture from vehicle registration
plates and replace it with the energy rating of the vehicle.
Mary White, the Green Party TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, said
a change to the registration plates would remove the status
attached to purchasing new cars. "There’s so much status
attached to an 08 car. But if we remove the date and replace
it with an energy efficiency rating of the vehicle, then we
would reduce the pressure to sell old but efficient cars and
promote the purchase of new cars that are fuel-efficient"
- she said.
Under the proposal, registration plates would retain the
county code and would be "cleverly calibrated as a useful
gauge of fuel-efficiency" - said White, whose own car
runs on plant oil. The new registration model will be unveiled
at the party conference.
As Minister for the Environment, the Green Party leader is
responsible for vehicle registrations as part of his environment
and local government portfolio. The party’s three-day conference
in Dundalk will also vote on a motion calling for wind farms
to be fast-tracked through the planning system as priority
projects.
This motion, which comes from energy minister Eamon Ryan’s
Dublin South constituency, is likely to be hotly debated.
Planning for wind farms is frequently blocked by objections
on grounds of their impact in environmentally sensitive areas.
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