Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has raised a couple of points. He is absolutely right. The net figure was 17 million tonnes. That has been priced. We had credits already but we have also acquired credits. What we are going out into the market with now is not even 17 million tonnes' worth. The gap will get bigger in the future.

The Deputy is right about commercial solar power. It is not solely about the planning guidelines. Commercial solar power is more expensive. It has not won out at auctions or successfully competed for any Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff, REFIT, schemes. As Deputy Canney was describing, one would expect offshore or onshore wind again to dominate the next auctions in 2019. However, we may see the start of some inroads made by solar power. That is important. It is still more expensive, but those costs are coming down very dramatically.

As Deputy Deering was saying, in combination with it becoming more cost-effective, we need to make sure that the guidelines are fair. I know there has been an issue with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government saying that no guidelines are needed as the guidelines are already there. As part of this process I will have a conversation with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to see if we need to issue some sort of clarification so that decisions can be taken where appropriate. There are guidelines - it is not true to say that there are not - but some people seem to be waiting for further guidelines to be issued.

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