No funding for long-awaited electric vehicle charging points in Laois town

There is no funding to deliver the promised e-charging points in the centre of a Laois town.

Cllr Paddy Bracken sought an update on the provision of e-charging points which were promised for O’Connell Square in Mountmellick quite some time ago.

Speaking at the July meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick MD, Cllr Bracken said that work has been done at O’Connell Square with some infrastructure put in place such as ducting in preparation for the e-charging points.

However, Laois County Council said that at present there are no sources of funding available for the installation of more e-charging points in Mountmellick.

Last month, the Department of Transport announced that five more charging stations for electric vehicles are planned in Laois which will provide 23 new charging points. As it stands, there are 17 charging locations with 62 charge points in the county.

Of these, Mountmellick has just two charging points on O’Moore Street.

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Another two charging points for Mountmellick were included in the Department of Transport’s announcement. However, this new e-charging station is planned for Corrib Oil in Mountmellick, rather than O’Connell Square.

“The infrastructure is basically there. The connection I don’t know, but infrastructure was put in place with a view of that happening. That was a few years ago,” Cllr Bracken told the council in relation to the long-awaited e-charging station at O’Connell Square.

The council told the Mountmellick councillor that the infrastructure is merely one element of the installation of the e-charging points, with more funding needed for the actual charging units.

An update will be sought from Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) in regards to any progress for O’Connell Square.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme