Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I recognise that when something was legislated for in the Finance Act four years ago, it can seem a bit remote. The purpose of it was to enable fleet planning by companies, not by employees. The latter would not perhaps have had the same familiarity with the provisions of the Finance Act as we might have understood their employers to have, particularly when it came to renewing leases. These are conversations that companies that are engaged in ongoing lease renewals should be having with suppliers. There is a disconnect between the employee who is actually paying this now and the fleet planning we might have hoped for and anticipated.

One of the aspects to look at is that budget 2022 extended the preferential BIK treatment for EVs to end in 2025 with a tapering mechanism on the vehicle value threshold. Therefore, the relief is being phased down incrementally from €50,000 in 2022 to €10,000 in 2025. That is to try to encourage early adaptation towards EVs by fleet planners, as opposed to employees, and to try to do that in the most expeditious way possible.