Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is great that rural colleagues are raising this issue. Deputy Martin Kenny spoke about people from rural areas finding a car already at a charging point. Things are beginning to happen, but I accept that we need to do more. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is considering installing charging points on lamp posts. It has been done in other parts of the world and we need to consider doing it, particularly to address the issues in Dublin raised by Deputy Eamon Ryan. As the technology develops, the vast majority of people will be able to do much of the charging at home. I say to Deputy Aindrias Moynihan that we are not behind the curve. Ireland has a far greater spread of charging points than the United Kingdom. As we have only one operator, electric car owners only have a single card and that will remain the case. It will probably involve the use of a debit card in the future. Drivers in the United Kingdom need five or six cards to use the network. Some 90% of the existing network uses three-phase electricity which means that vehicles can be charged 50% quicker than the vast majority in the United Kingdom which use single-phase electricity. We are not behind the curve in that regard. Can we do better? Yes, absolutely. Do we need to invest more? Do we need to look at the regulation? Companies such as Lidl Ireland are already installing charging points in its supermarket car parks. Hotels are also considering installing them. However, we need to expedite the process.

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