Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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942. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the funding available to local authorities to install public e-car charging points in each of the past two years; the funding each local authority has requested and drawn down in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6547/20]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Under the Climate Action Plan, the Public Charge Point Scheme has been in place since September 2019 to provide funding to local authorities for the development of on-street public chargers. The primary focus of this scheme is to provide support for the installation of infrastructure which will facilitate owners of EVs, who do not have access to a private parking space but rely on parking their vehicles in public places to charge their EVs.

The Climate Action Plan commits to the development of an eletric vehicle charger strategy to ensure that the supply of vehicle charging infrastructure stays ahead of demand.

My Department, via the SEAI, currently provides a grant of up to €5,000 to support the installation of these charge points. Budget 2020 provided an allocation of €2 million which can support up to 400 on-street charge points this year. Since the launch of the scheme, the SEAI has received 12 requests from various local authorities for the scheme with two local authorities planning to install 24 charge points as outlined in the table. It is hoped that these projects will commence shortly once the terms and conditions have been finalised by the SEAI.

As we emerge from the Covid pandemic and enter the recovery phase the further roll out of the Public Charge Point Scheme is expected to intensify. In this regard the Government is fully committed to supporting this programme and the other supports it has made available for the roll out of EVs so as to ensure we meet our ambitious commitments as set out in the Climate Action Plan.