The most obvious solution to date . . .

REARVIEW:WE'VE RECEIVED a mailbox-full of correspondence on the problem of Ireland's ridiculous date-based car registration system. Some of the solutions proffered are good, some less so.

But one stands out. Why not put emissions ratings on number plates instead of the year?

The car’s CO2 tax-band rating – be it A, B, C, D or E – would replace the date to indicate how green it is. The county and number could remain unchanged. We could even colour-code the plates according to how green they are for ease of recognition.

This eminently sensible approach has obvious advantages, not least that it would negate the mad race to purchase at the start of the year, putting our feast-or-famine car-sales calendar to the sword. It would also rescue the secondhand market as people would base their choice of which used car to buy on environmental standards rather than age. Old but clean cars would no longer be consigned to the scrapyard.

Best of all, people can wear their ecological credentials on their sleeves. Should they care about such things, they can buy the greenest cars available and let everyone know how. Deniers of global warming, on the other hand, can thumb their noses at the world by proudly displaying their band G status. Everybody wins.

A word to the Minister for the Environment: you can have that idea free, courtesy of some intelligent Irish Timesreaders. It can be your legacy. And it won't harm your chances of re-election to have your stroke of planet-saving brilliance plastered on every car in the country, will it?