Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)

We had great news over the weekend on electric vehicle charging points, including five new high-powered chargers for Mayo, five for Roscommon and seven for Cork. Unfortunately there were zero for the entire county of Galway. There was great disappointment that, out of the 53 new high-powered charging points to be rolled out throughout the country, none of them are coming to my county of Galway. To compound issue, in the southern half of east Galway, below the railway line, there is only one fast charger at present for all of the 55,000 people who live in the region. This is at a time when we are trying to incentivise people to move towards electric vehicles. It is something we need to look at. I would welcome a debate with the Minister on the roll-out of electric vehicle stations in rural Ireland.

Coillte's plan to construct tourist accommodation in Portumna Forest Park has caused great concern for locals. I have met the Protect Portumna Forest Park local community group. It is very concerned that what is at present a very tranquil rejuvenating amenity could be turned into a concrete jungle. Coillte needs to engage meaningfully with the group. Since January it has been trying to achieve any sort of meaningful engagement but nothing has come of it. If Coillte is realising that the harvesting of timber does not lead to profit, then we need to have the Minister come to the House to discuss ways Coillte as an entity will be viable in future. We cannot have a situation whereby it resorts to tourist accommodation to make sure it is a viable entity, especially at a time when, just a few hundred metres up the road, the vacant Shannon Oaks Hotel could cater for the tourism needs of the town. This is something we need to look at.

I echo the sentiments of Senator Flynn. Traveller mental health is a big issue and I would support a debate in the House on it.