East Clare urged to ‘get in the game’ on EV chargers

KILLALOE councillors were advised not to go on a “solo run” in their plans for the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers around the district. 

The matter was discussed on foot of a motion from Councillor Tony O’Brien who said EV chargers are now hugely important in attracting visitors to a region. “We have a very well-developed town enhancement and mobility plan,” he said, “and the aim is to attract many tourists and be a gateway for Clare. Government policies are all about climate change and new ways of doing things and EVs are a hugely important way of doing this.”

The Fianna Fáil member welcomed an official response to his motion, outlining that a charger is to be installed in due course. “I’m delighted, he said, “but I would like to see more than one charger. The cost of this infrastructure is in putting it in. We have a number of public carparks which should be suitable. This should really enhance the area and be of huge benefit to locals and tourists alike. There are no shortage of takers for these powerpoints. I would like to see movement and I’m really hoping for more than one in this district.”

The motion was seconded by Councillor Pat Hayes who said he wanted to broaden the discussion. He described Clare as “totally behind where we should be as a Council and a county”. in terms of EV chargers. “Slow and fast charging points are critical for every town now,” he said.

“We are promoting our market towns, but they don’t have charging points. We should take a leaf from Mayo County Council. They have ramped up the process and have them in every town and village. We are not in the game without basic infrastructure. EV chargers are now like a petrol station in a town.”

Councillor Pat Burke outlined an experience he had when a first cousin of his visited form the UK, with electric car. “He asked me jokingly if we had charging point in Whitegate,” he said. “He had charged the car at The Obama Plaza. EVs quite plentiful, but there was nowhere in the Killaloe district to charge. I got a friend who has a private one and my cousin had to bring the car to charge overnight. It was a bit of an inconvenience, but he got to Ennis.”

The Fine Gael member said that while he would not “go down the road of the Green agenda, but whether we like it or not, EVs are popular”.

Councillor Joe Cooney added his support. “Tony could be getting a bit greedy looking for more than one,” he joked. “But then again, he is Cathaoirleach of the county.” Councillor Cooney asked where the money would coming from. “None of this will be cheap,” he said. “We would all love to see them in every town. It is the way forward.” 

Acting Senior Executive Officer (SEO) Morgan Lahiffe said he agreed with the discussion. “The Council has a lot of work to do, like a lot of councils do, in provision of chargers,” he said. “A couple of years back, we didn’t recognise the speed at which we would need these.”

Mr Lahiffe noted that the Council’s Anne O’Sullivan is working on a county-wide strategy.

“A whole third-party is needed to run the type of business required,”he said. “We don’t want one municipal district going off on a solo run with one type of charger with a certain back office provider and Killaloe Municipal District and Shannon Municipal District doing something different. There must be joined up thinking. We will aim to brief you on the strategy and the timeline. When you have strategies published, what follows is funding from central government. It will be on my agenda going forward.”