Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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547. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress that has been made in achieving the Government target of a 10% share of electric vehicles here by 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43173/14]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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548. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress made in achieving the Government target of a 10% share of electric vehicles here by 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43368/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 547 and 548 together.

The Electric Vehicle Grant Scheme was opened in April 2011 to incentivise and support, through grants of up to €5,000, the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) in Ireland. These grants are in addition to the vehicle registration tax (VRT) reliefs of up to €5,000, and it was the early policy ambition in Ireland that 10% of the vehicle fleet would be electric by 2020.

However, the extent to which EVs are adopted in the short-to-medium term will depend on a range of factors including,inter alia, the strength of the economy, the overall numbers of new cars being purchased, the cost of purchasing and running electric vehicles compared to fossil fuel comparators, and the number of different electric vehicle models available to purchase. Overall within the EU, demand for EVs has been lower than originally anticipated.

To date in Ireland, grant support has been provided for the purchase of 532 new vehicles of which 250 were grant aided in 2014. The grant scheme will remain open for this year and, subject to finalisation of the budgetary arrangements, continue into next year.