Brian Stanley: County Laois left without rural EV chargers

Minister, I'm raising the issue of charging points and in particular charging points in Leash or the absence of charging points in most of the county. We have a situation where there are 21 publicly available charging points in the county. That's the latest information that can be got. And I have here the map of Leash and it shows that the charging points run down the centre of the county. And that's fine, you know, there's the N7 and N8, but there's the N80, there's the R44, there's a whole lot of other roads. And the whole east and west of the county have been left out of it. Now, the biggest barrier to getting people to move to electric cars is range anxiety and the access to charging points. And if drivers have to travel to get charged or if they have to queue, that deters them. Leash has them, as I said, in the middle of it. A county with a population of almost 100,000. There's none in the east of the county. There is nothing the whole way from Port Leash to Carlow Town. Nothing in Stradbally, Ballylina, The Swan, Newtown or Greycullen. Not one. In the south and west of the county, Dorough has none, Borough of St. Auster, Castletown, Camras, Earl, Clurness, Lea. None. Not one. Rosnell has none. Mount Meliqua, a population in the region of 5,000, has just one charging point. And while 75-80% of charging will be done at home, I think you'll agree that we do need public charging points. Now, look, I welcome the ones that have been put down to the middle of the county, there's a need for more, but the east and west of the county is completely blank. Blank according to that map and the documents that I've got. So people in rural areas, Minister, as you and I know, are car dependent. There's some local links in that, but for work times and all of that, people need to use a car. So if we're going to use electric cars, this week has shown that we need to try and move away from fossil fuels. They are going to become more expensive. So people will be going electric. We have to make this easier for them, to get to school, to get children to school, for people to get to work, to get to hospital appointments and to do their business in local towns and villages. Because there isn't a bus going up every road, while the rural transport has improved. And you can't have one on every borough and I think we accept that. So the number in the states, as I understand it, is in the region of 2,500, but we've only 21 public ones in Leish. And according to information that you gave out in answer to previous PQs, I see that there was between 3,200 and 6,210 are aimed at to be public. Now there's a huge variation and you might just address that. Is there a target and timeframe for that? They need to be better distributed. We can't have a situation where, you know, petrol and diesel will go up and up and up in the coming years. And we know after Donald Trump and Israel's crazy war in the Gulf, that we know that the fuel prices will not go back down to what they were at before that. We know that. That's the same with COVID, prices went up, but they never went back to pre-COVID levels. And it'll be the same with this. So we need to provide the option and make it easier for people to move to electric and people in rural areas. You're from a rural constituency, so am I. You understand what I'm saying to you. If people on the far out corners of the county, where they have to travel into work or travel beyond that, you know, we need to ensure that they have those charging points. So what's the plan to increase the number in the state? What's the plan to increase the number in County Leish, Minister? Thank you, Minister, to respond. Go raibh maith agat. Go raibh maith agat. Firstly, I want to thank Deputy Stanley for raising this important matter around EV charging points in Leish. I'm taking this on behalf of the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Dara O'Brien. The government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the EV charging network over the coming years. And having an effective and reliable charging network is an essential part of enabling drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles. A significant challenge to EV uptake by consumers is perception around availability and suitability of charging infrastructure. With over 80% of charging is expected to happen at home and will address most users' charging needs, there is a need for a streamlined public charging network to provide a situation for instances where home charging is not possible. Currently, there is an obligation on charging point operators and owners to publicly share charging point data under the EU Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation. Data from January 2026 show that in County Leish, there were approximately 20 publicly accessible charging pools located at at least one charging point, with 57 charging points across these pools. There is an aggregated power output of 5 megawatts across these pools. It should be noted that this data are provided by charge point operators, or CPOs, and there are some small differences in approach across CPOs. In relation to the format of data provided, ZEAM, an office in the Department of Transport, is finalising a data strategy and associated data platform that will, once in place, enhance the Department's ability to monitor this infrastructure more accurately. This strategy is being finalised following consultation and will be published very shortly. The system will enable measures to be put in place to enhance accuracy of data provided by charging point operators in relation to charge points in near real time and provide these comprehensive data on an open database. The new draft National EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy, out to 2028, was published on 26 February, aimed to further accelerate the delivery of EV infrastructure across Ireland. It includes a comprehensive plan to expand and future-proof the National EV Charging Network, ensuring that charging infrastructure continues to keep pace with the growing demand for electric vehicles. The strategy will build on previous ZEAM's publication, such as the Regional and Local EV Charging Network Plan, National Road and the EV Charging Network Plan, and the National Road EV Charging Network Plan. That sets out targets for in-route charging across the National Road network, whereas the Regional and Local EV Charging Network Plan focuses on neighbourhood and destination charging locations that will be led by local authorities in partnership with public and the private sector. LEASH has been identified under Region 2, with counties Longford, Roscommon, Westmeath and regional lead Offaly, local authorities will be funded to develop local and regional EV charging network strategies and implementation plan. This process will identify the number of charging points required in each area, including on-street chargers to serve residents without access to private off-street parking. Deputy Stanley? Thanks Minister for your answer. The situation where there's a strategy being developed, that strategy needs to look at the reality on the ground, geographic locations. I think you can't leave a situation where there's chargers down the middle of a county but there's nothing either side of it. You go 30 miles, 28 miles to Carlow from Portleish, nothing. Or the other side of the county, when you go down along the Shlea Bloom side of it and down to Ross Gray, nothing. So what I'm saying is, I'm highlighting the fact here that this needs to be included. I agree with you, up to 80% will be done at home, I understand that. But in a lot of the locations as well where there is chargers, in towns like for example Abbey Leakes, Mount Drat, Rath Downey, there's just one charging point, Mount Mellick with population of one. And that needs to be looked at. They're all expanding towns. All those towns, the population has gone up in them in recent years and it's important that that's serviced. It's important as well that departments will, and I listened carefully to your response, they will talk about strategies and all of that and phasing. Some things need to be kept simple or they don't happen. And what I'm saying to you here is, in short, is that this doesn't take a genius to work out. When you have large geographical rural areas like what's happened in the east and western side of Leash and the parts of the south of the county left out, we need to fix that and we need to use the opportunity to do that. I think you'll agree that given the debates we had in the House here this week around fuel costs and the challenges that we're facing there, we are going to be moving more to electric. And the easier we make it, Minister, the better. Let's try and make it easy for the motorists, the people in rural areas who will continue to use their car. The rural transport system is shown to be a success. We need to make this a success as well. It won't happen if we leave out the rural Ireland. Again, just to thank Deputy Stanley for his advocacy and for raising this matter on the floor of the Dáil. I know it's not his first time that he's raised it and it is an important issue for those who have EVs and they do need more security and predictability in regards to charging networks and facility. There are three ongoing schemes, LDV 1, LDV 2 and 3, being administered by the Department of Transport and these will ensure that Ireland meets its EU targets for publicly accessible EV charging network. For LDV 1, a total of 131 high-powered recharging points will be built across 17 charging pools, providing over 24 megawatt recharging. One of these is located in County Leash at Port Leash Plaza on the M17. In regards to LDV 3, which comprises of a total of 192 high-powered recharging points, there will be three locations within County Leash under this phase, each location with the minimum capacity of 100 kilowatts and that will be installed. The majority of the EV infrastructure delivered under each of these schemes is expected to be operational by the end of this year and in addition, ZEAMs are also running a scheme in conjunction with the Department of the Taoiseach and using funding from the Shared Ireland Fund. You might be aware that this scheme provided funding to install a network of publicly accessible chargers in communities nationwide and there were five eligible clubs in Leash in regards to new charging points, the Health Golf Club, the Heritage Golf Resort, the Bratunisca GAA Club, St Marmon's GAA Club, Clonislea GAA Club and Analach. I'll take your points back to Minister O'Brien in regards to an accelerated programme to try and meet our EU targets with an emphasis on ensuring that your constituents in County Leash are supported. you