John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

99. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the take-up of EV charging schemes for sports clubs, community facilities and town and village centre residents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34002/25]

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Will the Minister of State give some information to the House on the take-up of EV charging schemes for sports clubs, community facilities and town and village residents, and will he make a statement on the matter?

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. The Government is fully committed to tackling climate action with practical, innovative solutions that support our economy, communities and future generations. Promoting EVs is a central pillar of our strategy to reduce transport emissions, along with proposals to increase the use of active travel and public transport, reduce overall car usage and increase the mix of sustainable biofuels in the petrol and diesel fuel blends. Having an effective and reliable charging network is an essential part of enabling drivers to make the switch to EVs. While over 80% of charging is expected to happen at home, there is an absolute need for a seamless public charging network that will provide for situations or instances where home charging is not possible.

The regional and local EV charging network plan was launched in April this year and sets targets and strategies for local authorities to drive EV infrastructure development at destination and neighbourhood locations, with Government support. This plan will help deliver the charging infrastructure people need, where they need it, at home, on the road and at key destinations and neighbourhoods across communities.

The shared island funded sports club EV charging infrastructure scheme was officially launched in February 2023 with an allocation of €15 million. The aim of the scheme is to install a network of publicly accessible chargers in communities throughout the country, through their local sports clubs. The scheme was advertised both generally and through recognised national governing bodies for individual sports. Over 220 clubs across the island met the eligibility criteria to continue to the next phase. The next phase has been to procure charge point operators to undertake the works required. This is well advanced and announcements on this will be made in the coming weeks. This will enable sports clubs to engage with the selected CPOs to agree on works to be done and commence the draw-down of the funding.

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Many of the community groups that pursued the initiative did so as part of a revenue-generating initiative, but there has been frustration. The Minister of State referred to some of the schemes but there are others that go back as far as July 2023, when expressions of interest would have been sought. These are ongoing. It takes more than two years to get an EV charging station installed at a community centre. There is frustration over how long it takes and the burden of administration. Rather than examining how we deliver the infrastructure, we need to examine the timeframe of delivery and place a serious onus on the agencies and scheme operators to deliver in a much shorter space of time than at present.

In town and village centres, the local authorities have to step up to the mark. Householders on streetscapes that have no access to a connection are frustrated. In other countries, streetlight poles have been used in this regard, and that is one of the initiatives we should be considering.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I agree that the time it takes to put these things in place is not what we would like. The EU JTF EV charging scheme provides funding to support EV infrastructure at community facilities in the just transition area in the midlands. These include community centres, public libraries, public health centres, recreational facilities and enterprise centres in counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath and Roscommon and the municipal districts of Ballinasloe, Athy, Clane-Maynooth, Carrick-on-Suir and Thurles. Ninety-three facilities have met the initial eligibility criteria. All site assessments have now been completed and the process to confirm their viability is now under way. In addition, Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland, ZEVI, has developed a local authority EV charging infrastructure pilot scheme. This scheme has approximately 26 pilot projects across 15 local authorities. I will open the first of these on 27 June in Galway city. This co-ordinated pilot programme focuses on EV charging for multiple users’ needs predominantly at destination, neighbourhood and tourist locations. The Department is also funding dedicated EV charging infrastructure officers in each local authority to co-ordinate the roll-out of the infrastructure.

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister of State mentioned the EU JTF. This is a fund we need to focus on in terms of delivery. It is far too slow and creating serious frustration. In reality today, we have a greater variety of electric cars and they are more affordable, but there is still range anxiety. Until we can get the network delivered, we will not address that.

More than ever before, we need to consider a network of fast chargers. There are issues over the reliability of the charging stations in rural towns. I have heard anecdotal examples of stations with three out of four chargers not working. I have never pulled up at a petrol or diesel pump that was not working, and I do not believe an EV owner should have to do likewise. We have to provide EV owners with reliability at the same level. I ask the Minister of State to boost the uptake, address the barriers and come up with some sort of framework to deal with reliability. I encourage those behind all the schemes to engage with the communities and explain to them why they take so long. A six-month interval between the submitting of information and the response is simply unacceptable.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I agree with the Deputy that it is not all being done as quickly as we would like. We need to expedite the process to give confidence to people who are considering buying an EV that the infrastructure will be in place and that they will be able to rely on it to get from A to B. Many things have been happening and we are coming to a point where we will see things happening on the ground. We will be working within the Department to push along the projects to ensure they will be delivered in the quickest time possible so people can gain confidence in the EV infrastructure.