Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to highlight something that is happening across County Carlow, namely, the proliferation of solar farms. To be clear, neither I nor anyone I know in Carlow is against renewable energy regeneration, nor are we against our neighbours and friends who make a living from having wind or solar farms on their lands. In the area surrounding Rathoe village, though, there will potentially soon be in excess of 1,000 acres of solar farms. We are not saying that solar or wind farms should not exist. We are just saying that we need regulation.

The programme for Government commits to completing the second phase of the land use review, which aims to balance environmental, social and economic considerations. Anecdotally, wildlife is being disturbed with the development of mass areas of solar farms and many believe that this could be contributing to the marked increase we see in TB cases throughout the country. In my locality, a farmer who has not had TB on his land in more than 30 years recently lost more than a quarter of his herd to it. Will the Tánaiste let me know when we will see solar and wind farms being regulated?

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