A Garda responding to an emergency in the Mayo and Roscommon-Longford division had to “abandon his car to hitch a lift” because his electric patrol vehicle lacked enough battery charge to complete the journey, a Fine Gael Senator has revealed.
Speaking during the Order of Business in the Seanad this week, Senator Paraic Brady, who sits on the Agricultural Panel, raised the incident while highlighting the lack of charging infrastructure across rural areas, saying that electric vehicles in the region did not have the required support services.
“I raise an issue in the Mayo and Roscommon-Longford Garda division,” Brady said.
“A garda had to attend an emergency last week and had to abandon his car to hitch a lift to it. He was driving an electric vehicle, EV, which did not have enough charge to get him there and back.”
Brady argued that the situation demonstrated the necessity for proper renewable energy infrastructure outside of urban centres, noting that electric buses in the midlands were also lying idle due to a shortage of charging points.
“It shows again that the services must be put into rural Ireland, especially for renewable energy,” he continued.
“A number of electric buses are parked in Athlone and there are no EV chargers set up for them. They are in storage.”
He went on to call for ministerial clarity and funding to address the deficit of charging stations in rural districts where daily driving distances are unpredictable.
“I would like to get an update on where we are with services for EV chargers going into areas, especially in rural Ireland, where people do not know what mileage they will do on a daily basis,” Brady said.
“We certainly need an answer from the Minister. He could perhaps address this and say what kind of funding will go into the Mayo and Roscommon-Longford division.”
The comments come amid an ongoing effort by An Garda Síochána to transition its vehicles away from fossil fuels in alignment with the Government’s Climate Action Plan, which targets a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030. Petrol and diesel engine vehicles will no longer be available in European markets from 2030.
According to a Garda press release issued in May 2024, the organisation’s fleet management has been working alongside the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Office of Public Works to install charging points across all regions and divisions.
Following the allocation of 64 battery electric vehicles in 2023, the fully electric Garda fleet stood at 158 vehicles by May 2024, with a further 41 electric vehicles on order for delivery by the end of the third quarter of that year.
In addition to regular patrol cars, ministerial vehicles reaching the end of their service are also being replaced with low-emissions alternatives where appropriate.
As of May 2024, the ministerial VIP fleet included one full hybrid Lexus, 13 plug-in hybrid Audi A6 cars, one Hyundai Ioniq 5 and one Hyundai Ioniq 6.