Madam, – Your Editorial on “The motor industry” (August 25th) is simply regurgitated SIMI propaganda. Ireland does not have a motor industry; we import cars manufactured abroad; why should we be subsidising foreign factories? It is patently absurd to claim that tax subsidies increase tax revenue or that they encourage people to buy new cars which are not eligible for the subsidy. The SIMI admits it has no details of cars scrapped and is unable to substantiate its claim of a 76gm/km reduction in emissions; the real figure is about 26gms/km. To recoup the energy needed to manufacture a car would take about 30 years, and not two years as the SIMI claims.
Scrappage has reduced employment in garages, because, quite obviously, there is more work in repairing and maintaining old cars than new ones. It has also put up the price of second-hand cars. We are entreated to recycle everything from tin cans to newspapers: what sort of lunatic policy pays people to scrap a ton of toxic metal and plastic? The country is in the grip of a severe recession; the least deserving of government largesse are those who can afford to buy new cars and car salesmen who can afford to give €1,500 a year to the SIMI. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Industry, you should know, refers to economic activity concerned with the process of raw materials and manufacture of goods (Editorial, August 25th). There is no such thing as an Irish motor industry, there is a motor business which our Government, through the scrappage scheme, subsidises to facilitate the cash- rich to export of large amounts of money from this country in exchange for luxury goods.
Even if you are going to support the Government’s policy don’t be duped into using the car salesmen’s language. – Yours, etc,