Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I do not have an exact date for the publication of the report. However, it will be issued shortly. I will provide the Deputy with a broad outline of what we envisage will happen over the first two years of the strategy. The first point to make is that the strategy is dependent on the availability of suitable vehicles. Nothing can be done until such vehicles become available. From listening to the companies several hundred vehicles will become available by the end of next year. It will probably start towards the latter part of next year. By 2011 the figure should be around a couple of thousand as the scheme ramps up, depending on the level of vehicle availability from the manufacturers.

That will require roughly 1,500 power charging points, probably starting in the cities, concentrating in Dublin and the bigger urban centres first, then rolling it out around the country. That presupposes the ability of any householder to have a simple plug-in connection so that he or she may charge from home. There will be widespread availability of charging facilities on a domestic basis, but we shall need to back that up in apartment blocks, car parks and on-street facilities as well as with a number of super charging points where within half an hour one might get an 80% charge, that will enable one, say, to get from Dublin to Cork. We shall need those at mid-points between our cities as this evolves in the first year or two.

That is the first crucial development, having a countrywide, particularly urban, structure of power in place as well as the vehicles available from the manufacturers. In this regard we have the advantage, and now we know we have it. I mentioned that the whole ICT digital service area is behind this because we shall need fairly complex software. It needs to be an open access system in terms of being available for any vehicle manufacturer and as such is not exclusive. Also, down the line it will be supplier neutral in terms of the fact that different electricity supply companies will be able to sell through it - and that requires a good complex smart grid system.

Those are the bones of what I see happening in the next two years and what we learn and gain from that initiative we shall deploy very widely. There has been continuous questioning regarding the Dublin grid in terms of the volume of power supply being used in the city. However, there has been very significant investment in both the transmission and distribution network in Dublin and this is ongoing. The ESB is raising and spending significant capital on its network and other generation facilities. I am confident its involvement in this project is central to provide a co-ordinated response.

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