THE LABOUR PARTY has called on the government to “follow the actions of Paris” in tackling “car bloat” by increasing parking fees for SUVs in urban areas.

On Sunday, Parisians voted to make it much more expensive to park SUVs.

Labour’s Climate Spokesperson Senator Rebecca Moynihan today said the Irish government should emulate this approach in order to “urgently address the issue of car bloat in Irish cities”.

The change in Paris is the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the host city for this year’s Olympic Games greener.

More than 54% of the votes cast in the low-turnout election supported the measure to triple parking fees for out-of-town SUV drivers to €18 euros per hour in the city’s centre.

Only 5.7% of the 1.3 million eligible voters cast ballots at the 39 voting stations around the city.

The cost for non-residents to park 4x4s in Paris’s central districts, in the arrondissements numbered 1 through 11, will soar to €18 per hour for the first two hours, compared with €6 per hour for smaller cars.

After that, parking will become increasingly punitive.

A six-hour stay with an SUV will cost €225 euros, compared with €75 for smaller vehicles.

Away from the heart of the city, in Paris’s outer arrondissements 12 to 20, an out-of-town SUV driver will pay €12 per hour for the first two hours, progressively rising to €150 for six hours.

Fully electric cars will have to top two tonnes to be affected, while people living or working in Paris, taxi drivers, tradespeople, health workers and people with disabilities will all be exempt.

Hidalgo argued that the vehicles take up too much space on narrow Parisian streets, are too polluting and “threaten our health and our planet”, and cause more traffic accidents than smaller cars.

The additional fees will come into force from 1 September.

Speaking today, Senator Moynihan said the disproportionate contribution of SUVs to pollution “demands immediate attention”.

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“Parisians recently voted to triple parking costs for SUVs,” said Moynihan, “and Government should outline what action it can take to follow suit.”

Moynihan added that there is a “critical need for robust measures to curb car bloat” and that the “surge in SUV ownership exacerbates environmental concerns”.

She also remarked that Labour has been advocating for an “SUV tax akin to France’s model, factoring in weight and size”.

Moynihan said such a levy would “deter oversized vehicle ownership and could be used to mitigate their adverse impacts”.

She added that this levy, together with heightened parking fees for SUVs in urban areas, would “incentivise sustainable transportation choices and mitigate the detrimental effects of car bloat on our environment”.