Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I congratulate the Minister of State on the Dáil dojo he hosted yesterday in the AV room. I know Bill Liao and James Whelton myself and the work they are doing with this, that is, teaching computer coding skills to children is fantastic fun. I again congratulate the Minister of State and note this was the second dojo to take place in Leinster House thanks to his initiative.

The issue I wish to raise today is one I first brought to the attention of Dublin City Council when I was elected to it in 2009. Following my election to the Dáil, it formed the content of the first legislative item I published, namely, the Smarter Transport Bill 2011. It was a simple, technical Bill but its enactment would pave the way for two great ideas in Dublin city's transport infrastructure. The first concerns electric cars and electric car charging points. At present, the installation of electric charging points is being rolled out around the city. However, as matters stand, the spaces are not reserved solely for electric vehicles and other cars can park at the charging points. This makes absolutely no sense because it involves blocking the infrastructure for those who wish to use it. If one wishes to have people using this infrastructure and starting to drive electric cars, if one wishes to incentivise them with the provision of parking spaces with electric charging points, then these strands must be brought together. It is common sense and unless there is common sense in the infrastructure, people will not use it.

The second aspect of the Bill pertains to car-sharing car clubs. Essentially, this could be understood as being akin to the dublinbikes scheme but with cars. One would book a car online, go around to the nearest car, use one's personal swipe card to get into the car and then drive off for the designated amount of time for which one wish to use it. One would pay a standard annual charge of perhaps €50 and then an additional charge of €3 to €5 per each hour one uses the car. It takes away all the hassle of actually owning a car, including the cost of maintenance, the NCT and insurance, as well as all these additional things that make it so expensive. It is a fantastic idea for people living in high-density areas such as Dublin city. It also is a great idea for families who may need a second car only on occasion but who cannot afford to have one. The introduction of what one might call a dublincars scheme would mean fewer cars and less congestion on the streets, more parking bays and cheaper transport for those who needed to use it. In addition, it would be better for the environment.

In order to get such a scheme to work, one must be able to provide such cars in clusters of parking spaces on public streets, like one sees with the dublinbikes scheme and to do this, the laws must be changed. When I first raised the idea in 2009 at Dublin City Council, I was informed that primary legislation was required. Thereafter, once elected to this House and when drafting the legislation in 2011 to introduce it myself, I was still told that primary legislation was needed. Moreover, such legislation was meant to be transposed into the road traffic legislation being introduced by the Minister in 2013. However, in the course of that process, I was then informed that primary legislation was not needed and that one could move forward with regulations only. While I appreciate the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, is unable to be present today, my question to the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, on his behalf is what brought about this sudden change in legal thinking? Why was there a four-year wait before people suddenly realised one could proceed with regulation and the time-consuming process of enacting legislation was not necessary? Second, how soon can such regulations be made? This would be an important transport innovation for Dublin city. People have been waiting for long enough and given its title and function, one would think the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport would be more concerned with getting this through as it is such a simple matter

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