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

I agree, but I will make the point that there is a real advantage in rural Ireland for rolling out EVs. I do not disagree. We will need an improved Connecting Ireland bus service as well as a range of other provisions, but we want as much home charging as possible because it will bring real advantages. First, it will be a lot cheaper for the person, particularly if we can get our system working in a way that ensures that when the wind is blowing strongly in the middle of the night, different signals are sent along the lines of "Switch on now", "Use it now" and "Charge it now". Some 80% of charging at the moment is done at home. We want to keep that as much as possible, but we also want to look at anyone who is doing a longer trip. West Cork is a destination as well. In the likes of peninsulas such as Beara, Mizen Head and Sheep's Head, there is a real problem because we are finding that tourists and others can get down there, but how do they get back? They do not have home charging because they will be staying in a hotel, guest house, etc. It is a real issue. That is why we have just established a fund for €100 million for the next three years.

The week before last, we started speaking to sports clubs because we think they are a good location to put in chargers. It is useful at a local level. One could go to a match or drop the kids off at training and charge up then. That is just the first of several things we are going to do. It will extend to community centres, hotels and other destination points so that we have a fast-charging network right across the country. These have to be faster chargers, and there are three grades. There is also the issue of lampposts. This may relate less to some streets in Clonakilty but more to Dublin Bay South. Home charging is good but the second phase is street lamppost charging, where there might be similar speeds to those at home. They would be used at night and would be equivalent to domestic. Then there is the issue of faster chargers, which are 50 KV plus. They are needed in sports centres, community centres, hotels, shopping areas and other areas. There is another category we need in the likes of service stations. That is starting. I have been down to west Cork in my EV, up to Donegal, down to Kerry and all over the country. It does work but we need more. They are very fast and are 150 KV plus. One can go in for ten or 20 minutes and get a cup of coffee and the car will be charged and one can make one's way onwards. We need some of those all over the country, particularly at the start points in peripheral areas and areas where there are large numbers of tourists, etc. The plan provides for us to deliver that.

The biggest constraint is the grid. The biggest constraint in some of those service stations and other areas is getting the volume of power because it is not a small volume of power. A big improvement in the grid is needed for service stations or other locations where there might be a multi-charging point. Take the Oireachtas as an example. We have just put in four charging points and we have learned straight away that it is not enough. If you talk to the Oireachtas about getting more, they will say that it is not easy to get grid in. It is a big infrastructural investment, it is not cheap and it involves quite a lot of disturbance.

There is also the issue of ESB Networks. The ESB has just launched a new national plan for their rollout of the grid. They have just employed 300 extra staff, they have a €1 billion investment programme and they are going flat out. However, the truth is that we have to get them to connect all the solar PV and heat pumps we want to be connected, including industrial heat pumps, which will be part of a big increase in electricity load, as well as the EV charging points. Scaling up the ESB's ability to deliver the grid for that is probably the biggest constraint and we will have to work with the ESB to make sure they can do that in the next three years.