Sir, – Mary Morrissey (September 6th) is right to argue that the Government needs to act first in installing electric car charging points. She is wrong, however, to rely solely on the profit motive in the private sector. Fossil fuel infrastructure has had 100 years to establish itself, and always with the help of substantial government support. The Central Statistics Office has established that such fossil fuel subsidy runs well in excess of €2 billion a year in Ireland. We have only 10 years to substantially replace this infrastructure with one based on clean energy. This cannot be accomplished without substantial Government subsidy and regulation. It is one thing to rely on the profit motive to expand a growing industry. In the case of one which must shrink drastically, we can rely on some profits to be invested in alternatives, but inevitably a great deal will be invested to keep demand up and oil flowing as a century of fossil fuel infrastructure slowly depreciates.
Capping fossil fuel importation or nationalising the distribution of fossil fuels in Ireland will be necessary to meet our targets. As in all emergencies, there is no solution to the climate emergency that is a variation on business as usual. – Yours, etc,
TERRENCE
McDONOUGH,
Emeritus Professor
of Economics,
National University
of Ireland,
Moycullen, Co Galway.