Daragh Keany: Guilty as charged, on yer bike Eamon!

I didn’t even concern myself with the prospect of Eamon Ryan replacing John Gormley after the disastrous 2011 elections, as I wasn’t overly invested. I didn’t pound the pavements or contribute any more than some preferential votes.

I was Team Green without ever shouting about it or attempting in any way to get more people on board.

The only thing I was sure of at the time was that they were genuine contenders in opposition. The heartache of the recent Bail Out and the growing animosity towards FF/FG at the time meant that the Green Party was clearly on the up.

Then in 2016, they picked up two seats and four years later in 2020 they managed 12 seats and thus ended up in Government in a convoluted coalition that involved ‘anyone but Sinn Fein’. For his loyalty to the new alliance, Ryan was tasked with a whopper of a department.

Transport is the one that a lot of more established TDs would have wanted but they had to allow the sleeping Dubliner take the hot seat.

Here is where I come in. Here is where my forgiving and soft approach to politics goes out the window. Here is where I start to shout and revoke my membership of Team Green.

As Motoring Correspondent of the Sunday World, I have a unique insight into both sides of the automotive industry in Ireland.

I am also currently the Chair of the Motor Media Association of Ireland, which is a collective of reviewers and opinion makers operating in the print, digital and radio space of the motor business.

So it is safe to say that I have credit in the bank when it comes to collating all the relevant information from all sides of the various political debates.

A Green Party leader as Minister for Transport was, in my eyes, a godsend. Let’s face it, anything would have been better than Shane ‘photobomb’ Ross, who held the enviable title for the previous administration.

But Ryan was a well-versed politician and ardent Green so surely this would signal the beginning of turning this stunning little island into the poster boy of the electric-driving world?

Eh, no.

Surely his position of power would yield increased public charge points to accommodate all the hard work the motor industry did over the previous handful of years to sell thousands of EVs? Nope.

Instead, Minister Ryan became a two-wheel-focused minister who avoided our Motor Association’s invites to events and who ignored the nationwide cries for a better public charging infrastructure.

His brainwaves included rolling out suspension-shattering speed bumps, ridiculous (and sometimes dangerously-low) urban speed limits, and he tore up the road network to insert inadequate cycle lanes that are already riddled with potholes and cracks and are avoided by cyclists where possible.

As a motorist, he has ruined our roads and has wasted the best opportunity Ireland had to become a global beacon for EV ownership.

From top to bottom of our small island you need to drive 601km. There are already cars that can do that on one full charge. The whole world should be looking at us to see how public infrastructure and EV driving should be done.

Instead, all you hear is alarmist drivel from attention- seeking car dealers about the so-called demise of parts of the industry as well as anecdotal tales of ‘nightmare’ scenarios at the insufficient public charge points that are on our roads.

As recently as five years ago we had an effective set-up here, but unfortunately the EV car sales have increased at such a rate that the public charge point infrastructure can’t cope with the heightened demand.

People talk about ‘range anxiety’, but I think ‘recharge anxiety’ is a more accurate explanation these days. Twenty-one million euro has been committed to the network. But it is a fraction of what is needed, and it is a few years too late.

Minister Ryan will shortly step down after 26 years in politics, four of which were as Minister for Transport. He has done some good for sure, but ignoring the Twitter-friendly memes for a second, his legacy will be defined by his absolute abandonment of the car business here in Ireland. And don’t get me started on his reluctance to intervene on the passenger cap debacle at Dublin Airport.

Let’s see if his replacement can fix the problems once Ryan has finally cycled off into the sunset.