The way i see it

We have given a status to the car that it does not deserve. Sleek expensive brands make most of us turn our heads in admiration. Why? Is the money they cost in anyway commensurate to the purpose they serve? Or is it that they are just fashion accessories?

When Pope Francis was in Dublin it made headlines that he was driven about in an ordinary small family car. It made the news because he was not travelling in a sleek black Mercedes, BMW or Audi.

It’s always interesting watching on television ‘important people’ arriving and departing from meetings, whether in Brussels, Strasbourg, Berlin or Dublin, they are in top of the range cars. I can’t help thinking that we have been fooled by the motor industry. The average annual cost of running a car in Ireland is €10,670.

Some years ago a family in New York, on an experimental basis, forewent their car for a year. They saved approximately €4,000.

I can always call a taxi or hire a car. I’d still have change out of my €700 and I’d be helping make Ireland a cleaner and healthier place.

The more I think about it the more I am inclined to say ‘bye bye car’.