Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In last year's budget, we announced the roll out of solar panels on our schools. The growth in solar energy in this country is one of the renewable energy successes of this Government. We removed VAT and put in substantial grants. We have a good feed-in tariff and have removed the requirement for planning permission. In the budget, we expanded the tax disregard to €400 for that feed-in tariff. That really promotes the use of solar energy. I was delighted to hear that announcement last year but I am disappointed at the rate at which we have put solar panels on schools. I hope the House can be provided with an update on what progress we might see in the forthcoming year.

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