The government is expected to come under renewed pressure to raise the price of diesel over health concerns, after similar proposals in Britain resulted in plummeting sales of diesel cars.
Industry experts in Britain said that new figures that showed a 20 per cent fall in diesel registration last month indicated a “mortal blow” to the fuel.
The UK government announced in March that it would consider new tax treatment for diesel cars in the autumn budget due to its effect on air quality in cities. There are also likely to be increased parking fees for drivers of diesels in cities as part of a clean air plan.
In the UK, 81,489 diesel cars were sold last month, which was 20 per cent less than the previous year as tax rises in London and expected changes across the country continued to lower the demand. The number of vehicles using alternative fuels rose by 46.7 per cent to 8,258.
Ciarán Cuffe, the Green Party transport spokesman and Dublin councillor, said that Ireland should also incentivise the purchase of cleaner vehicles.
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“We have much better and cleaner vehicles available than seven or eight years ago when the switch to diesel was started,” Mr Cuffe said.
“There is a lot more enthusiasm around electric vehicles and if that can be reflected in government policy then we could be seeing a big switch.”
He said that it was particularly important that Dublin’s air quality did not deteriorate further and lessening the number of diesel vehicles in the city would help to do that. He said that diesel engines accounted for much of the city’s carbon and particulate emissions. “We need to keep dirty, smoky cars and trucks out of the centre of the city. Dublin is going to have to implement a clear air zone in the coming years.”
Shaun Armstrong, managing director of Creditplus, a UK-based car finance company, said: “Buyers are ditching diesels in their droves and it is hard to see how diesel can recover from what feels like a mortal blow.
“There is so much negative press around diesel at the moment, with proposals to introduce a toxin tax and the British government planning to launch a car scrappage scheme, it is difficult to see anyone choosing diesel over petrol and alternative fuel vehicles right now.”
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Michael Noonan, the finance minister who will stand down next week, resisted calls to begin equalising the Irish duty on diesel and petrol in the most recent budget.
Shane Ross, the transport minister, had asked Mr Noonan to lessen the incentive to buy diesel cars as part of an effort to tackle air pollution. A spokesman for Mr Ross has said that equalising petrol and diesel duties would “underpin a clear pathway and positive policy environment for accelerated uptake of cleaner transport fuels”.
Among private motorists in Ireland, the proportion of diesel cars grew from 27 per cent of all sales in 2007 to more than 70 per cent last year.
Petrol has a duty of 58.77c a litre compared with 47.90c for diesel. Equalising the rates over five years would raise an additional €328 million.