Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The decision of the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has left the situation in limbo. I listened carefully to the Minister in regard to the charging points. The CRU in its paper said there will be no further funding of the assets through network charges and went on to say it expects the ESB to arrange the sale of the assets. We have 1,946 electric cars in the State. The Minister said we are the best in Europe but we are not, given other northern European states are at multiples of that figure. We have to put in place the infrastructure. While the Minister mentioned the plastic bag levy, which is successful and which we support, this is not the same as the plastic bag levy. It requires planning and action. We have not seen that to date in terms of where and how the infrastructure will be provided and how people will access charging points to get electric vehicles on the road and sustain them, even for short journeys.

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