99. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Transport the take-up of EV charging schemes for sports clubs, community facilities and town and village centre residents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34002/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

Will the Minister of State give some information to the House on the take-up of EV charging schemes for sports clubs, community facilities and town and village residents, and will he make a statement on the matter?

Sentiment score: 0.03

Many of the community groups that pursued the initiative did so as part of a revenue-generating initiative, but there has been frustration. The Minister of State referred to some of the schemes but there are others that go back as far as July 2023, when expressions of interest would have been sought. These are ongoing. It takes more than two years to get an EV charging station installed at a community centre. There is frustration over how long it takes and the burden of administration. Rather than examining how we deliver the infrastructure, we need to examine the timeframe of delivery and place a serious onus on the agencies and scheme operators to deliver in a much shorter space of time than at present. In town and village centres, the local authorities have to step up to the mark. Householders on streetscapes that have no access to a connection are frustrated. In other countries, streetlight poles have been used in this regard, and that is one of the initiatives we should be considering.

Sentiment score: -0.17

The Minister of State mentioned the EU JTF. This is a fund we need to focus on in terms of delivery. It is far too slow and creating serious frustration. In reality today, we have a greater variety of electric cars and they are more affordable, but there is still range anxiety. Until we can get the network delivered, we will not address that. More than ever before, we need to consider a network of fast chargers. There are issues over the reliability of the charging stations in rural towns. I have heard anecdotal examples of stations with three out of four chargers not working. I have never pulled up at a petrol or diesel pump that was not working, and I do not believe an EV owner should have to do likewise. We have to provide EV owners with reliability at the same level. I ask the Minister of State to boost the uptake, address the barriers and come up with some sort of framework to deal with reliability. I encourage those behind all the schemes to engage with the communities and explain to them why they take so long. A six-month interval between the submitting of information and the response is simply unacceptable.

Sentiment score: 0.02