Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy McGrath. It is broadly welcomed, generally, by everybody here today to see a VAT reduction in the supply and installation of solar panels. It has been brought in as a financial resolution and I thank the Minister for explaining that as I did not realise it is so that we can implement this on 1 May, prior to the Finance Bill being passed. This demonstrates the speed and the commitment of this Government to act on renewables and address cost-of-living expenses for people to help them with those energy bills, to help them with future proofing their housing, and in making them more energy efficient and energy resilient.

Deputy Nash referred to the planning exemptions, which were quite important for people. They were not that onerous or difficult but it was another step to overcome that might have been off-putting for people. We introduced other measures as well, including a substantial grant scheme that was introduced by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to allow people to do energy efficiency works on their houses, including the installation of solar panels. There is a substantial grant for that. We have also introduced the feed-in tariff. Where there is excess energy that a person may not be using at a certain time or on a particular day, he or she will get paid for it at a fairly reasonable unit rate per kWh. Free solar panels are going onto schools. It all points to the fact that solar energy is here. Not much happened with regard to solar panels in the past and we have seen a real acceleration in Ireland in the past three years, through this Government. Solar energy have always worked in Ireland. Deputy Doherty said that solar energy will be important but it is being delivered at the moment. I see more and more rooftops across the country with solar panels going up on them. The first grid connected solar farm is in my own constituency of Wicklow. It all demonstrates progress and an acceleration to zero. We need to accelerate to net zero and all of these measures will help.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister, which I will raise during the debate on the Finance Bill, which will start shortly. We are tight for time. We can apply a VAT reduction to supply and install panels but is it possible under that EU Council directive to apply that reduction to heat pumps and domestic battery energy storage systems? That would seem to align with what the EU is assisting us with in terms of energy resilience and dealing with energy costs, inflation, reliability and resilience. Does this measure mean the VAT rate is only available on a package? If I, as a homeowner, wanted to go to an electrical wholesaler or supplier, could I buy solar panels over the counter with a zero VAT rate and employ my own roofer and electrician to install them or is this exemption only available as part of a package? Will that package be dependent on installation by an SEAI-approved installer? There are ways and means we can consider to do all of these things. The grant package is very helpful for people to be able to go out and get an approved installer but there are others out there with the capability to do self-installation. That is possible and perhaps the Minister will clarify the situation for me.

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