Electric car charging points at Stormont have been switched off ahead of a crunch meeting next week, after the controversy that has engulfed MLAs over the last several days.
Next Monday’s emergency meeting could signal a red light for the current system, which allows politicians to juice up their vehicles for free in a Parliament Buildings car park.
In the meantime, officials confirmed this evening (Friday), the charging points have been “suspended for all building users”.
Over the past few days Stormont has been rocked by accusations that politicians may have been juicing up their cars for free, while also taking travel allowances from the public purse to cover trips from their constituencies to the Belfast seat of power.
The body that oversees MLA salaries and looks after the building and grounds at Stormont, the Assembly Commission, has now revealed that an “urgent meeting” will be held on Monday to alter the electric vehicle (EV) charging policy at Parliament Buildings.
The announcement comes around 24 hours after the same body announced that politicians could soon be forced to pay to use six charging points in the Parliament Buildings car park that have been free for the last 11 years.
Stated a commission spokeswoman: “The Speaker has engaged with members of the Assembly Commission to agree that an urgent meeting will be convened on Monday (8th) to take decisions to change the EV charging policy at Parliament Buildings.
“The Assembly Commission will agree arrangements to give officials the authority to work at pace to introduce a new system which addresses the legitimate public concerns, including requiring payment for all users and reviewing relevant data retention policies.
“In the meantime, the Chief Executive has suspended the use of the current EV charging points behind Parliament Buildings for all building users from today (Friday) until a new system can be introduced.”
In a statement on Thursday evening, the commission revealed initial charging points were installed in 2015 and were free to use.
At the time, said a spokeswoman, “EV technology was still emerging and charging facilities were not widely available” and charging was offered for free “through many public sector bodies and incentive schemes” to get people to start using electric cars.
“This approach is changing as the use of EVs is now much more frequent,” she added.
