Mr. John Byrne:

On Deputy O'Sullivan's question on the approach and the relationship, the relationship is healthy right across all of the local authorities and the County and City Management Association, CCMA. However, I would agree with the Deputy’s earlier statements that some of them are further along the journey than others. In regard to the approaches, they come in many guises. Some are more formal and under direction, and some are less formal and come through councillors or town engineers.

In terms of assessing their viability, there are a number of key criteria or pillar criteria we look at. One is the available space in the area that is being proposed. A second is the traffic volumes and whether they will support additional charging infrastructure and whether that is actually required. We also look at local population densities and EV ownership rates in that area. Clonakilty would be a prime example, as well as other towns like Dingle, Lahinch, Clifden and big towns along the Wild Atlantic Way that attract quite an amount of tourism, so that would certainly be a factor in our deliberations. Ultimately, the last two would be grid capacity at the location and consent. In that format, while the local authorities would not have concerns over the longevity of the infrastructure, it is important to note that once the charger goes in, there are revenue and maintenance implications. They recognise they are sometimes not the best placed entity to undertake that and it is handed over to us, by agreement. As Ms Sayers said, that is quite prevalent in the UK, where they package large quantities of chargers together and run them in a competitive tendering or procurement environment.