Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The robust part of what we do in government now where one is trying to change things, which would really open your eyes, is that exemptions like these go through a strong process in respect of appropriate assessment and strategic environmental assessment. One thing about that is when you are assessing changes to exempt development, you have to look at both the positive and negative impacts. A change like this has so many positive impacts that they also have to go through robust assessment of the effects they may have on the environment and on the wider society at large. That, in itself, was a large body of work. I am confident that those exemptions have been assessed already as it has taken so long to get through this process, between negotiating with the various different safeguarding actors who have responsibility for glint and glare and for our aerodromes, as well as going through the SEAI process, to ensure that everything is right. I would be very happy that any considerations on the additional scale of the solar panels on roofs has been fully mitigated by the robustness of the process to get to the stage.