Thomas O'Connor

It does make a difference.

And Tara's right.

When you're purchasing electric vehicles, the charging infrastructure is not superfluous.

It's essential.

So one would have thought that, okay, we need to charge these buses.

They're not running on diesel fuel.

We haven't got a tank of diesel and we need electricity.

And there are issues around the grid.

I know Summerhill, which has electric vehicles, they're on the same line as the Mater Hospital.

And there's issues with getting the buses fully charged.

I think some nights they're on a trickle charge because they can't draw down the full amount of power.

The solution to this...

Like the Planning and Development Act 2024, Section 4, Section 4.6 gives the minister wide range of powers to introduce regulations.

And a bus carriage should be exempt from planning regulations.

You should be able to just put in a substation and electrical infrastructure to charge these vehicles.

Shouldn't have to go through the rigmaroles on red tape and bureaucracy.

It is.

And the half a million per vehicle pales in comparison to the fines that Ireland would be hit with from the EU for missing its climate targets.

Billions, tens of billions in fines.

So it behoves us all to get this infrastructure in place, remove the blockages, whether it be planning or engineering blockages.