Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I completely agree with the Minister. We need to dramatically increase our ambition in regard to construction.

I am conscious that my time is about to expire. Deputy O'Sullivan was talking about local authorities and their role in the roll-out of public charging points at the various levels. I refer the Minister to an article that I am sure he saw in The Irish Timeson 17 January which related to a poor response from local authorities, with just four local authorities in Dublin city, Louth, Tipperary and Meath taking up the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland on its grant scheme. In defence of the local authorities, I am conscious there are some local authorities that have done work outside of the SEAI in delivering this but it is not uniform.

With just 38 points delivered through SEAI grants by means of a scheme that is three years old, is it that the local authorities do not have the capacity to do this? Is it that they are prioritising other areas before they get into public infrastructure delivery or is there something wrong with the scheme?