Madam, – You carried a report and photographs of electric cars on the Aran Islands (Home News, January 15th) where it is hoped that they will be powered by wind- generated electricity. A very interesting and commendable scheme. My company delivered these cars to Galway docks using a diesel powered truck.
Had this event taken place two years ago that truck would have been powered by Irish-grown and produced rape seed oil. Today thanks to Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan’s abandoning of the previous scheme introduced by his predecessor Noel Dempsey we run on conventional diesel imported from some distant land by sea transport which is the most polluting of all forms of transport.
When Mr Ryan abandoned Mr Dempsey’s scheme, he promised to introduce something better. He hasn’t done so.
While I commend this scheme for the Aran Islands, I continue to wonder why a Green Minister ignores the opportunity to reduce Ireland’s carbon footprint, increase employment and increase agricultural output while reducing agricultural pollution and increasing our national fuel security through encouraging the use of a home-produced biofuel for trucks. – Yours, etc,