Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister, in particular, for his second response to the effect that we are certain to get more detail in relation to the electric car project. My view is that we need to take a field of dreams philosophy here, of "build it and they'll come" because people will not buy into electric cars until they see that this is a major State project for Ireland. We are transforming our transport fleet from carbon based fuels to electricity. We have the capacity to do this in a dramatic way if the Minister is aggressively pushing this project. However, it will not be helpful if we take a cautious approach towards putting charging points in place between now and the end of 2011 of up to even 1,500. This is something that needs to be rolled out in a more ambitious manner and I encourage the Minister to be ambitious in that regard. I have a number of questions.

Are we seeking memorandums of understanding with other car manufacturers? I know that manufacturers other than Nissan and Renault are seeking to actively pursue the electric car market as well and we should ensure that consumers in Ireland will have choice. Are we seeking further memorandums of understanding in terms of charging points outside the ESB network? Again, that needs to be very much open to a tendering process and the benefits of competition.

Finally, are we consulting with the Northern Ireland Assembly about sharing this project to make it an all-island initiative? There are clear reasons why we should be doing that, in terms of developing the same type of transport system on the island of Ireland. The advantage of our being an island is that our cars primarily stay in Ireland, unlike many other European countries, which makes it easier for us to transform our transport fleet within a relatively short period of time, as long as we can get the cars.

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