Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister accepts that the works done to date are unacceptable and inadequate. The Government has slashed the EV grant and repeatedly failed to make it available for second-hand vehicles. Will the Minister consider re-establishing that or improving the grant for the purchase of second-hand vehicles? The Government wants just under 1 million electric vehicles to be on the road by 2030, or 30% of all registered vehicles, but that is unlikely to happen given the lack of progress to date. People are getting the raw end of the deal, as is borne out in the charging infrastructure.

The figures do not lie. Under EU legislation, Ireland is required to have 6,210 publicly available charging points but, as the Minister said, we are a way off this and that more needs to be done. Some rural counties are charging deserts, and without the appropriate infrastructure in place, it is easy to see why people will be reluctant transition away from petrol and diesel. What is the Government doing to ensure a regionally balanced roll-out of the charging infrastructure?

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