Off the wall: Greens want fewer village cars
In recent weeks, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan speculated that it might be a good idea to reintroduce wolves to Ireland, though they have been absent for nearly 250 years.
In that two and a half centuries, our countryside has changed utterly and the circumstances that might once have supported a population of wolves no longer exist. Any reintroduction seems a misjudgement that might have unhappy consequences, especially for the back-to-the-future wolves.
Mr Ryan made another suggestion yesterday that seems, on the face of it at least, disconnected from the world most of us live in. He suggested that a village of 300 people needs just 30 cars and that Government should incentivise car-sharing. He also suggested that electric cars might be more attractive to rural communities than in urban settings.
Climate change means we must think outside the box, but as anyone in rural Ireland, especially commuters, knows independent transport is an expensive necessity not a choice. This is another daft suggestion that undermines the change in culture environmental collapse demands.
