*EV charging points.
CLARE needs to be more plugged in when it comes to installing electric vehicle charging points.
A renewed appeal was made this week by Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) for the establishment of an electric vehicle charging point at the square in the village of Carrigaholt. He said a suitable site has already been identified.
He said, “it is a year and a half since I last brought up EV charging points. The volume of traffic coming to the Peninsula is very high, many of them stop off in Carrigaholt, we’re in an era of electric vehicles. I was told the Council had permission to go ahead and make plans, that was a year and a half ago but I haven’t heard anything since”. Noted for his stylish vehicles down through the years, Cllr Keating told The Clare Echo he is not contemplating purchasing an electric car himself.
Michael McNamara, acting senior executive engineer in the roads section of Clare County Council outlined that the Department of Transport in July 2022 formed ZEVI (Zero Emissions Vehicles Ireland) as a dedicated office to support and progress the uptake of zero emissions vehicles and delivery of associated charging infrastructure. “ZEVI subsequently issued instruction to local authorities for the development of strategies for CP (Charge Point) infrastructure delivery within their local authority and in doing so directed local authorities to do so on a regional basis to ensure cross border consistency across local authorities”.
Clare forms part of Region 7 alongside Galway County Council, Mayo County Council, Sligo County Council and Donegal County Council with the latter acting as the regional lead. “As lead authority, Donegal County Council are presently undertaking the procurement process for the appointment of a consultant for development of the local and regional strategies for local authorities in Region 7, with local contributions from each local authority for their respective jurisdictions. Subsequent to the delivery of a local strategy, funding and delivery models shall be developed for the delivery of charging infrastructure at strategic locations throughout Clare,” McNamara stated.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Keating commented, “the reply is telling me what everyone else is doing but we don’t seem to be on the same wavelength”. He continued, “When I see the word shall I say never or ever or whatever, it is time to be moving on and I’d like to see something in place for 2025, it is giving good notice to the local authority”.
Acting Director of Service, John O’Malley pointed out that the response arrived from the roads section of the Council “who are managing the EV section in relation to the delivery of charging points. There is a national process ongoing, we’re part of a region which Donegal is leading out on. We might not be happy with the speed and we’d like it to happen quicker, the hope is we’ll see more developments over next twelve months and look at more strategic locations”. He said Chief Executive of Clare County Council, Pat Dowling had been eager for Clare to be chosen as the regional lead.
Receiving a presentation via the strategic policy committee would be worthwhile, Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) suggested.
Fuel stations need to be encouraged to provide charging points, Cllr Michael Shannon (FF) maintained. “We should look countywide to get a programme but to encourage petrol stations that they be incentivised to have fast charging points and roll it out. We need to improve the confidence in the drivers. It is a new phenomenon we have to deal with, the more EV stations around Clare, the better, going forward in 2025 on there should be a roll-out in every petrol station that should accommodate them”.
