Access to electric vehicle charging points across the county is falling massively short of requirements.

The matter was subject of a heated debate during last week’s meeting of Galway County Council – with some councillors claiming that there was only one public EV charging point along a 50 mile stretch.

But Chief Executive Liam Conneally told councillors that while the process was slow to roll out, a three-phase electrical supply would be provided at strategic locations.

He said that the Council would be discussing a strategy for the provision of EV points with the Department of Local Government and would be accepting submissions from the public.

Mr Conneally also confirmed that there would be a public consultation in advance of the roll-out of the charging points.

A clearly frustrated Cllr Alastair McKinstry (Green) said that information had been sought regarding the locations and number of EV points across County Galway but that this was not forthcoming.

He said that councillors needed to come forward with a list of locations where they feel charging points should be located before any strategy is adopted by Galway County Council.

The Connemara Area councillor said that the public had accepted the challenge to change over to electric vehicles but that this should have been met with an appropriate number of charging points.

“We are not being told how many charging points there will be or where they will be located. In fact, information is in very short supply.

“In order to avoid there being black spots around the county, the Council has an obligation to ensure that funding is provided to ensure that there will be a sufficient number for motorists to avail of,” added Cllr McKinstry.

Cllr Eileen Mannion (FG) said that there was only one EV charging point between Clifden and Galway city and asked that this situation be improved if motorists were to be encouraged to change over to electric.

“In the Connemara area we are way behind when it comes to charging points,” the Clifden-based councillor added.

Cllr Andrew Reddington (FG) said that charging points were being provided by private businesses, mainly supermarkets, but added that the Council should not be relying on this sector to do their work for them.

Director of Services Derek Pender said that it was easy to understand the frustration involved in this process, but the Council were addressing the situation as quickly as they could.

He said that the ultimate aim was for a zero emissions Ireland, but he stressed “we are not trying to ram this down anybody’s throats”.