Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Personal public service numbers, PPSNs, are the key to everyone's file and both organisations have access to the information.

The next item is No. 1095B from Mr. Ken Spratt, Secretary General, Department of Transport, dated 21 February 2022 providing information requested by the committee regarding electric vehicles and the small public service vehicle, SPSV, advisory committee of the National Transport Authority, NTA.

It is proposed to note and publish this item, which will also be relevant to our engagement with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I flagged this correspondence for discussion. We must question a few points with the Department. The letter we received stated that Ireland had set an ambitious target to have 945,000 EVs on our roads by 2030. I suggest that we need to reply and ask how that figure was arrived at. Judging by the number of EVs on the road now, which is a fraction of that target figure, we are looking at a requirement to add well over 100,000 EVs every year until 2030, but the total number of new cars sold each year hardly reaches that figure. Considering that EVs are also much more expensive, how realistic is that target of having 945,000 EVs on our roads by 2030? I suggest we should raise this aspect with the Secretary General, Mr. Spratt, to see where that figure is coming from and what it is based on.

Another issue, and one I have raised before, is that approved battery electric vehicles, BEVs, with a listed price of less than €14,000 will not receive a grant. There is also a cap of €60,000 on the purchase price of all vehicles. We should perhaps raise a concern about the cap being so high. While EVs are more expensive, it is possible to buy them for €40,000 or less. I note that the correspondence we received in response contained a list of the type of vehicles being bought under the grant scheme.

BMWs loom very large in it and there are some Jaguars and Land Rovers which are hugely heavy vehicles. There are also loads of Mercedes. In corresponding with the Department we must ask, in the context of the use of public money, if any consideration has been given to reducing that subsidy. I do not wish to sound in any way anti those people within the commuter belt, but from the figures we have seen previously it appears that a lot of these cars are bought within the general Dublin area. People who live further away are, by and large, not buying into electric vehicles because of range anxiety. Do we have a situation here where people in rural areas are perhaps subsidising huge electric vehicles in the greater Dublin area? Has the Department given, or is it giving, any consideration to reducing that subsidy limit to under €60,000? It seems very high. Would any other member wish to come in on this? No.

No. 1098B from Mr. John Dollard, Chief Superintendent, An Garda Síochána, dated 18 February 2022 provides information requested by the committee regarding non-compliant procurement, including steps being taken to ensure that the operational needs on An Garda Síochána are met within procurement rules and guidelines. It is proposed to note and publish this item. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Members will be aware that we are scheduled to examine An Garda Síochána’s appropriation account on 31 March so please let the clerk know if there are any specific issues or areas of interest on which members wish to receive briefing information in advance of the meeting. This was flagged for discussion by Deputy Matt Carthy. Does Deputy Carthy wish to come in? No. I take it he is okay with this. The correspondence sets out the reasons, from An Garda Síochána’s point of view, why there was some non-compliant expenditure during Covid. We will have an opportunity to examine that further when the representatives are before the committee on 31 March.

No. 1099B from Ms Anne Graham, chief executive of the National Transport Authority, dated 22 February 2022 provides information requested by the committee arising from our meeting with the NTA on 27 January 2022. It runs to 22 pages and includes answers to 16 issues raised across a range of areas under the NTA’s remit. It is proposed to note and publish this correspondence. Is that agreed? Agreed. It was flagged for discussion by Deputies Catherine Murphy, Matt Carthy and Imelda Munster.