Cargate

In an interview with NUI Galway’s student newspaper SIN, Niall Ó Brolcháin is asked the question I wrote about previously about his car:

You were given a new hybrid car. Would it not have been more environmentally sound to keep your old car as 40 per cent of the pollution generated by a car in 10 years driving is in its manufacture?

You make a very good point and you are right, but the City Council leases a new car every year, so last year’s car had gone through its lease, therefore, I was getting a new car anyway. There is huge symbolism attached to the hybrid car. One could take the view that people shouldn’t drive cars at all, but the fact is that people do drive cars so what we are trying to symbolically say is that if you do drive cars make sure they are as environmentally friendly as possible, and certainly the hybrid car is one of the most environmentally friendly cars out there.

Make of it what you will.