Written answers

Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Electric Vehicles

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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252. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he plans to introduce an income cap for electric vehicle grants to ensure funding is targeted at those who need financial help the most when purchasing a new electric vehicle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16471/22]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government's grant scheme for electric vehicles aims to encourage behavioural change and support the Government’s commitment to achieving a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030.

The grant schemes are kept under continuous review to ensure that they are as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort.

On July 1st 2021, the grant process was changed so that only vehicles that had a retail price of under €60,000 were eligible for grants, so as not to spend government funds subsidising very high cost vehicles.

In addition, this Department convened the Electric Vehicle Policy Pathway (EVPP) Working Group to produce a roadmap to achieving the 2030 EV target. The EVPP Working Group comprises senior officials and has considered regulatory, financial, and taxation policies to help drive a significant ramp-up in passenger EVs and electric van sales. The recommendations of the EVPP Working Group were approved by Government and the full report is now available online.

In order to support the transition to EVs, the Group recommended that the generous suite of EV supports already in place in Ireland should be retained until at least end-2022. Additional measures to further incentivise EVs and/or disincentive fossil-fuelled vehicles will also be necessary.

The report also recommended that an office for low emission vehicles should be established, as a matter of priority, to co-ordinate the implementation of existing and future EV measures and infrastructure.

This new office should also take charge of developing and launching an extensive communication and engagement campaign, whole-of-Government in coverage, to drive the availability and understanding of key information regarding EVs, tailored to household, business and public sector consumers. Work is now under way to establish this office.

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