Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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221.To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number and location of EV charge points in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32219/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Department of Transport, through Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) are investing €100m between now and 2025, in the delivery of EV infrastructure, as part of the EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy.

The number of publicly available charge points in Ireland has increased from approximately 1,700 in September 2022 to over 2,400 in 2024.

The Department of Transport does not currently maintain information on available publicly accessible EV charging stations because they are owned and operated by commercial charge point operators, who are not currently obliged to share this information. Any data available at present is sourced from market operators who provide EV information services to charge point operators to facilitate drivers in locating charge points. This is operational data and cannot be considered as either complete or verified.

However, ZEVI are at present developing a Data Strategy in line with the provisions of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) which, when implemented, will give the Department better visibility on the number, location and status of EV charge points across the network via a shared and open data system, and depending on information provided by charge-point operators.

The system will collect the near-real-time data provided by charge-point operators regarding the charge-points. The obligation on charge-point operators and owners to share this data via API, at no cost, to all data users, is legislated for within AFIR. This should facilitate data users, including the Department, to build a fuller data set. This data system is expected to be in place by April 2025.