I raised the issue of congestion in my constituency yesterday. I also attended a meeting of the tourism committee at which we discussed issues such as the new EU resolution that electric vehicles, EVs, will have to be introduced for car rental by 2030. There has been a little blowback on that. Dublin Airport does not have the capacity and it accounts for 80% of all car hires. There is some flexibility, though, in terms of Dublin Airport. Given that 38% of people who come into Dublin Airport and hire a car there go to the west, there is a lot of scope for Ireland West Airport in terms of providing grants to charge EVs there and having overnight charging facilities in the area. This is also valid from a congestion perspective. All the cars going from Dublin Airport directly to the west are clogging up the M50 and also the N4 in my constituency. There is synergy possible in this regard. Ireland West Airport could have more planes landing there for tourists who love to drive automatic electric cars.

I thank Deputy Gogarty. I always find these questions are so broad-ranging. This is an area I need to familiarise myself with more but I believe there is validity to what the Deputy says in that we want to ensure we fully utilise all of the airport infrastructure we have in the country. I am quite sure people in the west would welcome an increased flow there, particularly because so many who go to Dublin end up travelling west.

Sitting beside the Minister of State responsible for planning, I am aware we are looking into planning exemptions for EV charging points and the like, which might help with a tangential but nonetheless important issue. I will ask the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, to consider the Deputy’s suggestion and revert to him directly.