Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was thinking earlier about this notion of moving from rhetoric to real policies. We all agree that is what we need to do. I remember being here for a debate on microgeneration, which I think was in 2016 during my first year in the Dáil. It was about people putting solar panels on the roofs of their homes, farmers putting them on the roofs of their sheds, selling it back to the grid and all the benefits of that. Everyone agreed. Five years later, we are still talking about it. That is the reality of it, especially for people in the farming community.

Last Friday I was with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine up at Shass Mountain in County Leitrim. If you want the idyllic type of farming, that is where it is. It is low-impact farming. You are talking about a few sheep on the side of a mountain. It is nature flourishing at its best. Despite this, those farmers feel under pressure. They feel nobody is on their side. They feel the Government is only there to beat them up and accuse them of doing the wrong thing all the time. When they talk about forestry, the only forestry they see around them is where land was bought out from under them by big corporate interests. Years ago the Government gave a higher grant to the farmer. It took that away and now gives the same grant to those same corporate interests. As such, this is going in reverse for the people on the ground who are dealing with the real issues. I agree we need to move away from rhetoric and into green policies. We need to have those policies implemented. We need to not be just talking about it.

Five years ago, we discussed the issues of selling power back into the grid. We should have had it done four years ago. It should not take five or six years to set a rate to allow a farmer with a large shed to put solar panels on its roof and make it so he or she does not need planning permission for that because he or she already has permission for the shed. Why put people through all these hoops? I am not particularly blaming the elected Government but why do the agencies of Government always seem to want to find a reason to delay and procrastinate on all these issues? That is the big problem. The Minister of State and the other Ministers in government need to face that down. They must say that if they are to deliver on climate change, we must deliver solutions for people. They must ensure people feel they are going to get something that will be there for them and that they are going to be supported through it. People talk about a just transition but the vast majority of people in large areas of rural Ireland want an affordable transition whereby they can afford to buy into this, because at present they cannot. These people decide they want to retrofit their home, put solar panels on their roof and insulate it properly. They see there is a bit of a grant there for it but that they need another €25,000 along with that. Where are they going to get that? No bank is going to give it to them because they already have a mortgage and they already have got all the other things they need to manage in life, and they are struggling. What really need here is for the Government to be on people's side if we are going to deliver an affordable and just transition.

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