Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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327. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount spent on constructing and maintaining the electric vehicle charging network in each year since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14880/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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349. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the process by which faulty or damaged electric vehicle charging points are identified and repaired; the average turnaround time for a charging point to be repaired; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14885/18]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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354. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated cost of extending the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland electric vehicle grant in each of the years 2021 to 2026, assuming the 2020 targets for electric vehicle usage are met and not met, respectively. [14891/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 327, 349 and 354 together.

The Electric Vehicle purchase grant, administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, has been in place since 2011.  A total of €6 million has allocated for payments under the scheme in my Department’s budget this year .

The purchase grant scheme will be kept under review in relation to funding and grant amounts for future years.  As the purchase grant scheme is demand-led it is not possibly to accurately predict how many vehicles will be supported in future years.

The existing fleet of electric vehicle charge points was rolled out by the ESB, through its eCars programme. There are approximately 900  charge points in Ireland of which circa 70 are rapid chargers. The operation and repair of these charge points are an operational matter for the ESB.

In March 2014, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities approved an application from ESB Networks to recover the costs of a pilot project to a maximum of €25 million from use of system charges to cover the rollout of this infrastructure.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities determined in October 2017 that the charging network should not form part of the regulated asset base and therefore development of the network should not be funded from use of system charges. The decision envisages the continued ownership of the charging network by ESB Networks for a transitional period of up to ten years, ensuring no short to medium term impact on the electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The decision also set out the need for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure to operate on a commercial basis. 

The Low Emissions Vehicle Taskforce is currently examining how best to support the development of public chargers and funding of €1.8m has been allocated in my Department's budget this year to support the provision of public charging.