Ireland's welcome rise in the International climate performance index will be short lived if the Government continues to unpick progressive measures introduced in recent years, according to the Green Party.

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan said today. "It is great to see Ireland near the top of an international index for performance on climate change. It is a result of us getting the policy approach right in recent years but we have to make sure that does not now change.

"It looks like the Government is going to unpick the incentives that we introduced in 2008 to promote the purchase of more efficient vehicles. In the ten years prior to that we kept buying the same inefficient models despite the fact that more fuel efficient vehicles were increasingly available. Within one year of the new tax system being introduced, sales of the more efficient A,B & C cars doubled while E,D and F models fell in popularity fell by two thirds. The average new car owner is saving some 20% on their fuel bills because of that change and we are near top of class in Europe in relation to new vehicle emissions.

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"The Department of Finance blamed the measure for a loss of tax revenue but they don't measure the economic benefit of keeping more money in the country as we import less oil. They seem set on increasing the tax take on all vehicles rather than just shifting the bands downwards to retain the incentive to switch to yet more efficient vehicles. They will collect more tax revenue in the short run but loose a bigger chunk of our money to Russia and the Middle East.

"There is one other award handed out by same Climate Action Network which helps devise the climate performance index. It is called the Fossil of the Day Award which is handed out each day at the United Nations meeting on Climate Change to countries that are heading in the wrong direction. If the Government does what is planned with VRT and Motor Tax in the budget tomorrow then they should hand the award straight over to Phil Hogan for the day."