Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Subject to getting approval from the EU Commission, the new TAMS will be kicking off next January. A significant thing I am doing to drive uptake among farm families is providing a separate €90,000 allocation under TAMS specifically for solar. It is separate from the €90,000 allocation for other on-farm investments. There has been a bit of a drag regarding the uptake of solar under the last TAMS because the money all came out of the one investment and people had to choose between solar and something else. I do not want people not doing solar because they choose something else; I want everyone to do it. With 60% in grant aid to cover solar panels, plus batteries, which are really important, and given that the funding is entirely separate from that associated with other TAMS investments, every farm family needs to consider solar. It makes financial sense. We want to drive it on. The two Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon, and I want to see farmers availing of this opportunity. They will save money and make themselves more profitable through it. It will also make a genuine difference in respect of emissions reductions. I foresee a big step change.

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