Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage may have a role but I think the key agency in this is the ESB because it delivers the electricity grid network. As the distribution company, it will have to innovate and invest in the network. That is a matter for my Department and the energy regulator. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities has to agree to whatever investment the ESB must make in the distribution network to facilitate that level. While it may be a few years off, it is not so far off that it will become a challenge. We are about to see a massive expansion in the number of electric vehicles because they are better cars, with maintenance and fuel costs that are a fraction of those of other vehicles. The ESB will have a key role to play in this and it will have to be a commercial proposition for the company. It and other operators will need sufficient revenue to cover the cost of the distribution network. The scale of change is huge and will involve a multibillion euro investment in the local distribution network, particularly for urban areas. In rural areas, it will be much less of a problem. For example, a single house with a driveway is much easier to manage. We will have to put our thinking caps on for the urban areas.