18 January 2018
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The Green Party in Cork has welcomed the announcement that Cork City Council has set a date for when the Lord Mayor of Cork will drive the first hybrid mayoral car.
Lord Mayor Tony Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)
Cork City Council announced this week that the Lord Mayor will drive a Ford Mondeo plug-in hybrid from July 2018. The move follows Ford’s announcement at the weekend that it is investing $11 billion in a new range of 16 fully electric and 24 plug-in hybrid vehicles to be delivered by 2022.
Speaking after the announcement, Justin Fleming, the Green Party representative in the Cork City South Central ward and an Earth Hour coordinator in Cork, said:
“Last year we met the then Lord Mayor about this same issue. The obstacles we faced then were that Ford had few or no electric or hybrid vehicles and the battery range would have to be enough to get from Cork to Dublin on a single charge.”
“Since then there’s been a sea change in the industry. Toyota is going all out advertising its hybrid range. All Volvo cars will be electric or hybrid from next year. And the 2018 Nissan Leaf is to have a range of 240+ kilometres, and next year’s one will go even further.”
Mr Fleming said the latest move was among a series of commitments to show leadership on tackling climate change that the Green Party in Cork had been demanding from Cork City Council:
“The Lord Mayor has already agreed to use a ceremonial switch to turn off the lights at City Hall to mark Earth Hour this year. Last week the city council banned disposable cups in its offices. This latest news is another step along the path to making Cork a real leader in tackling climate change and taking advantage of the new economy.”
