Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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205. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will incentivise the provision of public access electric vehicle chargers by private individuals and businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52790/21]

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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206. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the funds he has provided or intends to provide to incentivise the provision of public access electric vehicle chargers by local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52791/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 205 and 206 together.

The Deputy will be aware that the Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the electric vehicle charging network over the coming years. A national charging infrastructure strategy is due for publication early next year which will set out a pathway to stay ahead of demand over the critical period out to 2030. There are a number of incentives available to both private individuals, public sector organisations and businesses to support the installation of vehicle charging infrastructure.

I am also aware that a report was published by the CCMA on the provision of guidance to local authorities on the provision of charging infrastructure. The document is available for viewing online at

Preparations are underway to establish an Office of Low Emission Vehicles. This Office will play an important role in our transition to zero emission vehicles. It will co-ordinate measures to support the uptake of EVs and the rollout of charge point infrastructure.

In terms of existing incentives for charging points, the Public Charge Point Scheme continues to be available during 2021 to provide local authorities with a grant of up to €5,000 to support the development of on-street public chargers. The primary focus of the scheme is to provide support for the installation of infrastructure which will facilitate owners of electric vehicles, who do not have access to a private parking space, but instead rely on parking their vehicles in public places near their homes to charge their EVs. My Department has committed to reviewing the Scheme later this year to ensure that it is as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort.

Having an effective and reliable recharging network is essential to enabling drivers to choose electric. Charging at home is the most convenient and cheapest way to recharge. Targeting the installation of smart home chargers is a priority as we look to moving towards more energy efficient and sustainable ways to charge. A grant is available from the SEAI for those individuals seeking to install a home charger.

There is also a need for a seamless public charging network that will provide for situations or instances where home charging is not possible such as on-street and residential charging, destination charging, and workplace charging.

€10 million was committed from the Climate Action Fund to support ESB investment in the charging network and this has leveraged a further €10 million investment from ESB, with the infrastructure to be in place by the end of 2022. This intervention alone will result in:

- 90 additional high power chargers, each capable of charging two vehicles

- 52 additional fast chargers, which may replace existing standard chargers

- 264 replacement standard chargers with more modern technology and with each consisting of two charge points

Further details on the progression of this project can be found at www.esb.ie/ecars/our-network/network-upgrades.

My Department is also developing a new scheme which will support the installation of destination charge points in locations such as hotels and parks. This new initiative will help provide another critical link in the overall network for public charging.