Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the failure to deliver progress on Ireland's climate action plan in 2021. Among the more than 100 measures on which we did not see delivery on time was the move to ensure sufficient availability of electric vehicle, EV, charging points for those who wish to switch to EVs. This is being raised with me constantly in my constituency and it is an issue for many people around the country. Many who wish to switch to an EV cannot be facilitated in doing so because of the lack of publicly-accessible charging facilities. We do not see any sign of urgency in the Government's response to this in the roll out of a national strategy, or, indeed, at local level in Dublin City Council, DCC, and other councils. We must see urgency. We need to see the Government ramping up the installation of public charging points in urban and rural areas to enable the switch to EVs. We must also see more urgency in the switch to active transport measures. I raised before - I know the Minister is personally supportive of it - my idea of a bike-to-school scheme and the incentivisation of the purchase of bicycles for schoolchildren to encourage more cycling. It would be similar to the bike-to-work scheme.

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