Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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203. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 196 of 8 November 2022, if he will provide an update on the provision of EV chargers specifically for Thurles, County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57306/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In terms of existing supports for public charging, the Public Charge Point Scheme, which is administered by the SEAI, continues to be available and provides 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. It should be noted that this scheme facilitates the installation of standard charge points. Tipperary County Council have submitted an application under this scheme which includes a request for four charge points in Thurles. This application is still going through the approval process.

ZEVI has significant funding available in 2023 for the installation of EV charging across Ireland. A new scheme for neighbourhood charging is in development expected to launch in 2023.

In addition, ZEVI is also currently working in partnership with a number of Local Authorities on pilot programmes for EV charging this year. Tipperary County Council is welcome to contact the ZEVI team if it would like to put forward a pilot EV charging project for consideration in ZEVI’s pilot programme.

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

Public charge points in Ireland are provided by a number of charge point operators on a commercial basis. ESB eCars is one of these operators and has a significant presence nationwide. In light of ESB eCars' role in providing publicly accessible charge points, I have forwarded your question for direct response. Please contact my office if no reply is received within 10 working days.