James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to outline his plans to draw up planning guidelines for solar farms for local authorities; to outline the discussions his Department has held with other Departments; if his Department have considered the EU's RED III directive within its plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65840/25]

Noel McCarthy (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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92. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress to date in establishing planning guidelines for solar energy developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65645/25]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has considered drawing up planning guidelines for solar farms; if he will outline the stages in this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65841/25]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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This is an important question. On behalf of the people of Cork East, I want to ask about the position regarding the publication of solar guidelines. There has been an explosion in the number of solar projects across Cork East as a constituency, as well as in Deputy O'Sullivan's constituency of Cork North-Central and other parts of the country where developments have occurred, often at very large scale from 500 to 600 acres up to 2,000 acres. Could the Minister please give my constituents some clarity on this urgent matter?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 92 and 120 together.

I thank Deputy O'Connor for this important question on planning guidelines for solar farms for local authorities. The section of the programme for Government on securing Ireland's future reaffirms Ireland's ambitious targets of 8 GW of solar capacity connected to the grid by 2030, to assist with meeting the requirement of 80% of electricity demand supplied by renewables. Solar energy is a growing source of electricity, with approximately 2.1 GW of solar power capacity currently installed in Ireland. However, further solar capacity is required for Ireland to meet its domestic and international targets. For this reason, my Department is preparing a new national planning statement on solar energy under the new Planning and Development Act 2024. My Department has begun an initial scoping process to identify the component factors relevant to the preparation of the national planning statement for solar energy development, including any appropriate environmental assessment and public consultation requirements and other relevant European obligations such as the renewable energy directive, RED III, which will determine the timeframe for publication of said guidelines.

The scoping process remains at an early stage, but I am satisfied that the existing and evolving planning system, supported by Government policy more generally, provides a sufficiently robust policy and legislative framework to facilitate the roll-out of solar energy development in a sustainable manner and to assist with meeting our renewable electricity requirements while balancing the perspectives of local communities and their needs and allowing for public and stakeholder engagement. In the interim, there are currently no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar energy development. Proposals for individual solar energy developments are subject to the statutory requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and the Planning and Development Act 2024, as amended, in the same manner as other proposed developments, with planning applications made to the relevant local planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála on appeal.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. I acknowledge that he has provided a response. As a TD, I have no issue with the need for renewable energy and the decarbonisation of our economy but when it comes in the form of using thousands of acres of land in highly commercial agricultural areas - the Cork East constituency has some of the best land in the country - that represents one issue, and the second issue is the scale of these developments. Other countries have pursued very smart strategies such as using the top of commercial and school premises and factories or non-agricultural lands to pursue these developments, but Ireland has a mismatch in terms of policy.

Development is happening in areas where, ultimately, it is not the best use of that land or ground. Does the Minister see the point I am raising? In the east Cork area and other parts of the country, as other Deputies have raised, this is not happening in a prudent or productive way for the agricultural economy and n terms of the impact it is having on residents, given the size and scale of these developments. As I said, they potentially are upwards of 1,000 acres and in one case I am aware of, up to a maximum of 2,000 acres, which is larger than the Phoenix Park.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I certainly hear the Deputy's concerns. Any proposals forthcoming from the Government will be subject to public consultation and consultation with stakeholders, very much including the agricultural community and rural villages. However, in the absence of national planning statements, it falls back to the first principles of planning law, including the relevant Acts, but also the county development plans as set out by the 31 local authorities. At a local level, the city or county development plan sets out where solar energy development is accessible. The making of the city or county development plan is a reserved function of the local authority members. In terms of the setting out of the county development plan by Cork County Council, it is in the council's remit to assess, decide and set out where solar energy can go. Councillors being able to make that decision, effective at the closest point to local people, is an important power.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the Minister's last point, we have approached Cork County Council collectively at a local level and it is saying that without national guidelines, it will not amend its development plan in terms of governing regulations around the erection of solar farms. There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation here. The council is saying it will not implement anything about solar development in its development plan. The Minister is saying this evening that it is up to the council to incorporate that into its development plan. The council has already told us locally it is not open to amending it without direction nationally.

I support the point made by Deputy O'Connor. On some of the land he is talking about, with which I share a border, somebody could build a solar farm 100, 200 or 300 acres in size but would struggle to get planning permission for a one-off house or agricultural shed. It is that stark in terms of the development that can and cannot happen there. At this stage, we need to be genuine with people. In the absence of regulation and guidelines, we must stop fooling people. I welcome that there will a scoping exercise but it sounds like it will take an awfully long time. We need to implement guidelines urgently.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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It will take more to deter us than a few cheap shots in op-eds in the Irish Examiner criticising me and others for having the courage to come in here and raise these matters. Deputy O'Sullivan is right that we need the guidelines. Local authorities need those guidelines and they need leadership from the Government. A message must go back to the custodians of the status quo who have let this matter carry on for so long, despite its being raised at parliamentary party level and ministerial level before the general election and again now, that we need answers. It seems to me we have been left in the lurch, unable to give constituents answers because we do not have those guidelines. There is a game of pass the parcel between the Department and local government when both need to come together to understand that the scale of development happening in areas such as my own in the Cork East constituency, and the rapid nature of those developments, requires urgent attention for reasons ranging from flooding to the large-scale size of the developments. As Deputy O'Sullivan rightly said, if someone wants to build a house on those lands, the planning process is far more tedious than it is when seeking to swallow up hundreds of acres for the development of these facilities.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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On the question of smaller extensions, etc., we are working on a very extensive suite of planning exemptions. I very much recognise that people should have more power to deliver and work on their own local property without having to seek planning permission. That is why we are introducing those exemptions. It is very much not a case of passing the parcel. The reality is that county development plans are decided at a local level. We must be very careful how we proceed in terms of any national planning statement. It cannot be one size fits all. Local authorities and local councillors know what is best for their local areas.

I very much believe in local government, which is why I set up the local government task force to give more power back to local councillors. Any national planning statement, when it is announced, cannot and will not take a one-size-fits-all approach. What is good for Cork East would be very different from what is good for north Wicklow and different again from what works for Donegal. No matter what the planning statement says, there will always be a significant amount of power left to the local authority to decide what to do with the land. There is no reason for any local authority to be waiting for a national planning statement. The law, as it is, says it is up to local authorities to decide what to do with their land in their own county areas under their own county development plans. That is their local power.