‘Serious problems’ with EV infrastructure in Donegal says Senator Boyle

Donegal’s Senator Manus Boyle warned that Electric Vehicles (EVs) would not be suitable for Donegal in the future, unfavourably comparing the county’s resources to European countries like Portugal.

Speaking at Leinster House in a Seanad debate, Senator Boyle, a native of Bruckless, stated that people were getting “frustrated” with the lack of EV vehicle infrastructure in Donegal.

He said: “Everyone I talk to likes their wee electric car but there are serious problems with the infrastructure. Electric car sales are good and that is good as it shows we are going in the right direction.”

The Irish Electric Vehicle Association (IEVA) published in October 2024 that there were only 14 publicly available EV chargers in Donegal. Only five other counties in the country had fewer EV chargers, however, they were considerably smaller counties than Donegal. 

Cork, Kildare, Tipperary and Westmeath had over 50 publicly available EV chargers, whilst Dublin had 122 according to the IEVA. 

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Senator Boyle recounted meeting a Portuguese driver in Killybegs. He said: “I went over to him to chat to him and see how it was going. He was very annoyed. He showed me the map.

“When you leave Killybegs, there is only one charger in Falcarragh, one in Gweedore, two in Dungloe, and only one in Glenties. We are taking tourists in here and we are promoting everything, yet we are not putting the infrastructure in for these people to come.

“The EVs are starting to work, but they are not going to work in rural areas like Donegal. I can see us going back to diesel cars because the infrastructure is simply not there.

“The man I spoke to told me there were three chargers for every fuel pump in Portugal. We would be lucky to have three on the whole road from Galway up to Donegal.”