Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Eoghan Murphy for attending the Dáil dojo yesterday. He has been a strong and articulate advocate of the CoderDojo movement, which we both agree is one of the most exciting movements to emerge from within the community sector in Ireland for many years.

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, who is unable to attend the Chamber today. He would like to thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Deputy Murphy's Smarter Travel Bill 2012, which he introduced as a Private Members' Bill, proposed to provide in law for the reservation of parking spaces for recharging electric vehicles and for the reservation of spaces on-street for car clubs. The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, discussed this Bill with Deputy Murphy at the time and indicated he supported the proposals. He therefore asked his officials to ensure the measures proposed were included in the new road traffic Bill which was then being prepared in his Department.

During preparation of the Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill, which the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, published last week, legal advice was received that the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, already had the power to provide in secondary legislation for the matters covered by the Smarter Travel Bill. The Minister is happy to re-emphasise that he strongly supports measures to promote sustainable travel and that, in this context, he is keen to facilitate both growth in the use of electric cars and the development of car clubs. Both electric vehicles and car clubs represent important environmental and sustainable travel initiatives. Both will help to reduce emissions, and they all constitute creative solutions to the ongoing problems of environmental pollution in our cities. Work is, therefore, now under way in the Minister's Department on preparing the necessary regulations, and he intends to bring in these regulations as soon as possible.

The Government has set a target of ensuring that 10% of the nation's passenger car and light commercial vehicle fleet will be electrically powered by 2020. Action 47 of Maximising Ireland's Energy Efficiency: The National Energy Efficiency Action Planprovides for that. The aim is to reduce average vehicle energy consumption, and hence CO₂emissions, air pollutants and noise.

The Minister's Department has also made a commitment, under the Sustainable Travel and Transport Action Plan, STTAP, to support private and public sector initiatives to operate car clubs. These are organisations which own a pool of cars and members can book their use for a specified period. The intention to legislate to enable on-road parking spaces to be designated for car clubs through appropriate signage was made clear in action 19, supported by action 37, of the plan.

The regulations now in preparation will address these matters by providing for designation of spaces for electric vehicle recharging, car clubs, and specific signage for these spaces.

While road traffic legislation falls within the area of responsibility of the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, there will also be a need to look at other issues to ensure that recharging points for electric vehicles and spaces for car clubs can be provided on a sound legal basis. It will be necessary, for example, for local authorities to ensure that they have the appropriate powers to enter into arrangements with electricity providers and car clubs. Local authorities will also need to consider the revenue implications of changing the use of these spaces, and to agree on costs with electricity providers and car clubs. These are matters which are under the remit of the Minister's colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, wishes to thank the Deputy again for raising the matter and assure him that the required regulations will be in place as quickly as possible.

See this speech in context