Offaly County Council caretaking staff (L-R) Joe Duffy and Noel Thompson pictured with their new Zero Emissions Vehicle at the EV charging point in Offaly County Council's Machinery Yard, Tullamore.

Five new electric vehicles for Offaly County Council staff

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Offaly County Council has announced that it's added five new Zero Emission electric vehicles to its corporate fleet.

These include three large Ford transit vehicles which will be used in providing housing maintenance to over 25% of the council's social housing stock in the Tullamore and Birr Municipal District areas, including Kilcormac, Cloghan, Ballycumber and Ferbane.

The council said these vehicles "will be driven by our craftsmen who are responsible for reactive and planned maintenance of our social housing stock".

In addition, two smaller electric vehicles are to be used in Tullamore and Birr by caretakers for duties associated with the council's corporate buildings.

Offaly County Council chief executive Anna Marie Delaney said the introduction of the vehicles was part of the local authority's "commitment to taking climate action and protecting the environment".

Pictured in one of the new electric vehicles which are part of Offaly County Council's corporate fleet were Chief Executive Anna Marie Delaney with (L-R) John McNally, Climate Action Coordinator; Tom Shanahan, Director of Services; John Cunningham Senior Engineer, Housing; and Barry Lennon, Senior Engineer, Roads and Infrastructure Department.

Referring to the council's Draft Climate Action Plan targets, Tom Shanahan, Director of Services, added: "This is just one of the positive steps Offaly County Council is making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its own infrastructure and assets by 51% by 2030."

Offaly County Council said its Draft Climate Action Plan "encompasses all forms of climate action including mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity enhancement".

John McNally, Climate Action Coordinator with Offaly County Council, further added: "The Draft Climate Action Plan will be presented to the full council for discussion, with a view to adoption later this month. We want to thank the public for their support during the public consultation phase."

Senior Engineer of Roads and Infrastructure, Barry Lennon, said Offaly County Council was continuing to roll out Electric Vehicle charging points as part of the Department of Transport Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) initiative.

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