Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No problem, we will keep it very brief. The electric car grant scheme is very important. Taking into consideration Drive4Zero, a pilot initiative run in Cork several years ago and the issue arising from that pilot regarding free car parking spaces, banks coming on board, local authorities and joined-up thinking between everyone, has the Minister any plans to extend that pilot and initiate more pilot programmes because it would be very appropriate?

The other area is energy efficiency, particularly relating to local authorities as major drivers and spenders of energy. I might be overshooting but I think only one local authority in Ireland has been accredited for energy efficiency. What are we going to do to get the other local authorities as major drivers in the community to come on line? As leaders in the community, they need to be seen to be upfront. Cork County Council is ISO 50001-accredited. Other local authorities and large energy providers owned by the State need to come on line. What are we proposing to do to get them to do this?