Dáil’s e-car drivers get a charge for free
While the rest of us struggle as €2 a litre looms at the pumps
TDs and Senators are still powering electric and hybrid vehicles in the Dáil car park for free, a year after Leinster House authorities pledged to bring in a charging system, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned. The revelation comes as the AA warned that hard-pressed motorists will soon be paying €2 a litre at the pumps.
And it comes as Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe ruled out any reductions in fuel excise or carbon taxes to provide relief for consumers in the face of soaring prices across the economy.
Last year, Oireachtas chiefs promised that TDs and senators would be charged for using the four-car charging facilities at Leinster House amid concerns politicians could power their vehicles for free, while claiming mileage expenses travelling to and from their constituencies.
But instead of reform – and with e-cars becoming more popular – the charging points are coming under increasing pressure.
Two of the charging units, which have the capacity to charge four cars, are located in the Dáil car park facing Merrion Square. Two more charging units are available in the adjoining Agriculture House, part of the Dáil outer compound. An Oireachtas source said: ‘The chargers are in constant use, the best of cars are constantly hooked up – Teslas, BMWs, Nissans, Volvos. You might call them green gas guzzlers, only it’s electricity they guzzle.’
The source added: ‘Interest is growing in who are the happy beneficiaries. Leinster House is a small place: we know who the fellows are with the electric charger constantly powering the car. Some are haunting the spot.’
Five Cabinet ministers drive fully electric cars or hybrid variants.
Green leader Eamon Ryan and his deputy Catherine Martin own electric vehicles, while their party colleague, Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman, has a plug-in hybrid. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe also have plugin hybrid vehicles.
The current cost of charging an electric car out-and-about varies between €10 for slower chargers and €12 for faster ‘pay as you go’ units. Last year, in response to queries from the MoS, Oireachtas officials said a charging system would be applied for users at Leinster
House. ‘We don’t have a method of tracking usage at the moment,’ a spokesperson said. ‘We will be moving to a system whereby energy usage may be tracked. ‘Under such a system, free electric car chargers at Leinster House will be measured in future.’ However, when contracted this week an Oireachtas spokesperson admitted: ‘This is a work in progress. We are continuing to work with the supplier to add additional machines with new functionality that would
allow credit card payment at the time of use. However, we are also seeking to move the current machines to a final location, and we hope to do this before starting the credit card payment system.’ The free charging facilities for our elected representatives comes as motorists and consumers across the country struggle to cover soaring fuel and home heating costs.
The AA’s Paddy Comyn told the MoS: ‘Premium [petrol] is now retailing at €1.86 so it is not a stretch to see it hitting €2.
Irish fuel prices rose by a third in 2021 from price levels in January 2021 of €120.8 for diesel and €129.9 for petrol.
Soaring fuel costs are cited as one of the main drivers of rising inflation rates, which stood at 5% in January in figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO)
‘You might call them green gas guzzlers’
‘People across the country are struggling’
this week. Petrol and diesel prices have risen by 29.5% and 32% respectively. But despite rampant inflation, Minister Donohoe ruled any cuts of duties on fuel duties in response to parliamentary queries from Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy.
EU legislation means the Coalition has scant room for manoeuvre when it comes to changing VAT rates, but it can vary the duty through an adjustable qualifier system or cutting carbon taxes.
But Minister Donohoe dismissed the prospect of reductions, saying the taxes are ‘a key pillar underpinning the Government’s Climate Action Plan to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero no later than 2050.’