Hi Luke,

Sadly, the current short answer is that we just don’t know. The Irish Government does indeed currently have, at the consultation stage, a paper on improving air quality and that is thought to contain recommendations that diesel (especially) and petrol cars should be more heavily taxed and electric and hybrid cars more incentivised. It is thought though that the Government is very wary of triggering another collapse in used car values, as we saw with the change to CO2-based tax in 2008, so in the short term, those measures are probably going to be fairly low-key.

That said, as you can see from further headlines recently, the industry and governments around the world reckon they are preparing for the death of the internal combustion engine, so now could be a good time for some motorists to start looking at switching to a hybrid or even a full electric car. That decision is still driven largely by cost, driving habits and lifestyle, but it’s certainly worth considering.