Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

I do not agree with the Minister's claim about all the progress being made. In fact, progress is stalling and any gains that have been made are quickly being overtaken because the plan is not delivering. We definitely will miss the target of having 1 million EVs on Irish roads by the end of the decade. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has said we will probably miss it by up to 300,000. Sales of new EVs have fallen by 24% and there was an 8.1% decline in used imports.

We are also falling way behind in the roll-out of the charging infrastructure, with a deficit in rural areas in particular. At the end of 2024, there were 2,802 publicly accessible charging points. That is seven per 10,000 people, compared with 13 per 10,000 in Britain. As with retrofitting, it is only those with significant means who can afford to participate in the grant scheme. There is a serious problem in that EVs are more accessible for middle-class people than for working-class people.

See this speech in context