The Government does not have a mandate “at this stage” for a strategy that includes the possibility of new charges for motorists, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said.
His remarks came after the Green Party sought to bring the latest version of the “Moving Together” strategy on traffic congestion to Cabinet for approval before the general election which is expected to take place later this month.
The Irish Independent reported on Friday that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have blocked the move to progress the strategy amid concern over possible new taxes or charges for motorists.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said on Friday that there that there are no proposals for new taxes though it looks at potential ways of replacing motor tax income as people switch to electric vehicles.
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He acknowledged there has been “pushback” within the Coalition on the strategy.
At a separate press conference Mr Harris said: “I signed up for a Programme for Government that was anti-carbon, not anti-car.
“I think it’s very important that we recognise that there is still a need for cars in this country, and many people will have switched to electric vehicles.
“They need roads to drive on ... Our public transport needs good road infrastructure as well.”
He added: “This Government has neared the end of its time in office.
“I don’t think the Government has a mandate at this stage to come at the Irish people with a range of new charges and taxes.
“I’m not in favour of it and any government that I’m a part of won’t progress things around tolls and congestion charges.”
The Fine Gael leader said the climate agenda needs to be advanced and his party is ambitious on that “but you do that by bringing people with you and at the moment, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, increasing tolls, congestion charges and the likes is not where we need to be at.”
An earlier version of the strategy entitled – Moving Together: A Strategic Approach to the Improved Efficiency of the Transport System in Ireland – has already been published.
Mr O’Gorman said it has been discussed at Cabinet previously and it sets out ways in which local authorities in particular can better manage congestion and brings forward suggestions on how we can reduce congestion in our cities.
He said there are “no proposals for new taxes” but the strategy: “does flag the issue that as more people move to e-cars as we have fewer petrol and diesel cars, VRT, motor tax is going to decrease and that’s a big chunk of the income”.
Mr O’Gorman added: “We are going to look at ways of how we fill that gap and this talks about some of the potentials.”
But he said: “This is a strategy. This isn’t a taxation document.
“It is focused on delivering better solutions to the congestion we see in our towns and cities.”
Mr O’Gorman said there had been “pushback” from his party’s Coalition partners on this and “on some other pieces as well”.
He said: “We’ve a proposal in terms of reform of the road strategy where there’s pushback.”
Mr O’Gorman added: “My view was we work all the way to the end of this Government.
“We continue to bring meaningful proposals forward.
“That’s what our party has done. That’s what I’m doing across my department.
“I had no kind of sense that we were going to, you know, down tools two weeks out.”
He said his party will “continue to make the case for working all the way to the end of this Government and continuing to deliver meaningful proposals”.
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