Dr. Aoife O'Grady:

I have a brief response.  On lampposts, we are actively looking at it.  There is a technical barrier in terms of the designated meter which is required from the ESB network side.  If you have to put the meter in the lamppost, you then have an additional piece of street infrastructure which takes away from the rationale for using a lamppost in first place.  Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal County Councils are trialling them but they are doing it on an unmetered supply.  They are not charging users for it.  If we do a significant roll-out and we begin to charge users, we have to work out how to get around the meter issue.  That is the challenge, but we are actively working on it.

In terms of the second-hand market, I completely agree. In the Department, I chair a working group called the electric vehicle policy pathway, EVPP, implementation group. It follows on from the EVPP group’s report, which was published last September. A subgroup was established within that to consider not just the second-hand market but also the issue of a just transition to the electrification of the transport fleet. Within that, we are considering ways to encourage and expand the second-hand EV market in Ireland. It is also looking at other low-cost ways of supporting people on lower incomes who are making that transition to EVs.