*Photograph: John Mangan

AN INCREASING AMOUNT OF AREAS in East Clare are being viewed as potential locations for electric vehicle charging points.

Presently, there is not a single electric vehicle charging point in the entirety of East Clare. In May, officials within Clare County Council outlined that “worthwhile” locations in Killaloe had been identified as part of ongoing work with the Clare EV Strategy.

Lack of progress with the infrastructure’s installation was flagged by Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) at the July meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District. “I’m being asked every day about this and I’d like a progress report. I’m wondering about the rapid charging points in particular. If someone comes off the motorway and wants to charge their EV in Killaloe or Scariff, we don’t have a plan for that yet,” he stated.

Hayes continued, “There’s a huge amount of people moving to electric cars and asking where the fast-charging points are. The fact is, we don’t have any. There is urgency around this now. We need at least one in each town”,

Morgan Lahiffe, acting senior executive officer in the Killaloe MD hinted that Tulla and Quin were now being considered in addition to Killaloe. “I have been speaking to Anne O’Sullivan, who is leading the strategy for the County Council, for the county in general on EV charging. It is important that we don’t do something in isolation and we need a collective plan for the county”.

With staff on annual leave, he admitted it could be difficult for a major acceleration of plans to bear fruit. “It is holiday season now and in August, the technical team in Killaloe will meet with Anne to pinpoint specific locations in the towns and villages. She will move on it at that stage”.

Scariff should not be omitted when charging points are to be added across East Clare, Cllr Hayes stressed. “When we were doing paths across from bank in Scariff, there was an area left and cables put in. I would hate to think that Scariff would be left out of this plan. People are coming out here to visit Inis Cealtra and need EV chargers. No disrespect to the rest of the county, but we’re the only area without EV chargers”.