David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The SEAI lists 12 institutions across the country that provide courses. There is no such list on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's website that I can find or maybe the Minister could point me in the direction of it and I would be grateful if he would do so. Would the Minister agree with me that if somebody installs solar PV on a farm and that person is not competent or qualified, that they can actually cause terrible damage and even danger to farmers and to animals? What is the Minister and his Department putting in place to ensure that does not happen and if it has happened, what will his Department do to compensate farmers who rely on these lists? They will go to these lists - it is only companies by the way, not individuals - thinking that these people are competent, regulated and can do things safely. We are talking about livelihoods and lives here so I ask the Minister to take this very seriously indeed. It has happened in other countries where solar PV expanded and all kinds of cowboys went out there with no certification. By the way, the SEAI list is not live either. In other words if somebody is taken off the Safe Electric Ireland list the SEAI has no way of finding out. This is very serious.

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