Results 5,921-5,940 of 10,843 for speaker:Matt Carthy
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: I am talking about this type of farm as opposed to just panels on roofs.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: You hear about the most frustrating aspect of this when you talk to farmers who have had solar panels installed and who are by law precluded from providing electricity to the grid because TAMS is so ridiculous. There will be a new TAMS in the next CAP so could Mr. Bolger touch on the difficulties that scheme in particular has created and where improvements are needed in the next round so...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: Is that a land-based farm?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: Okay. So the panels would be on the fields in the same way as the-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: I have a couple of questions I want to ask. I am sure others will touch on that issue. One of the maddening aspects of this is planning, particularly for rooftop installations. I have been a local councillor and am involved in many areas where internal planning disputes come out but have never been aware of opposition to people putting solar panels on the roof. For people who want to be...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: We hear of delays in network access and in people being paid for electricity they provide to the grid and that this will be resolved next quarter. Where do the witnesses see that matter now, in terms of being comprehensively addressed? Mr. Connolly mentioned two issues related to Department of Finance. One was the capital gains tax rule on 50% solar. The principals for which we have...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: I have a follow-up question and another point I want to make but I agree on this issue. If the Department of Finance goes back to the logic for the capital gains tax provision in the first place, which was to recognise the unique nature of family farms and that, in many instances, it is not like passing on another type of company where there may be assets. In many cases, if tax was applied...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: Absolutely.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: The fear is it could be extrapolated that no farming per se, as in food production, would be taking place.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: I agree on that. I will ask one question and make a comment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: It is a follow-on question related to the soil quality Dr. Reale mentioned. Even though they are solar panels, I take it the sun does not reach the soil underneath the panels. I am interested in Dr. Reale's statement that the soil quality is shown to improve significantly.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: Is it the adjoining lands?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: I accept that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: I have a final comment in respect of the North-South interconnector, which is a good example of how not to do things. Mr. Bolger is correct that the process for the interconnector was initiated 20 years ago. The difficulty has been that there has been no public consultation in two decades since. Twenty years ago, a fait accompliwas presented to communities that opposed the plans and we...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: Is Teagasc aware of anywhere else in the EU where currently, as a standard practice, solar generated electricity cannot be automatically sold back into the grid?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: It is a big part of the discussion here that we cannot, as a matter of course, put solar-generated electricity back into the grid, or at least we cannot get paid for it. Does that happen anywhere else, where an established solar strategy is in place?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: This is absolute lunacy. We hear member talking about over-riding the concerns of local communities for some projects, with all of the talk of environmentalism and climate action, with so much lecturing taking place, and yet we have this resource which is a win-win for everybody concerned. This is in terms of the national interest where it is asked how much better off we would be in the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: Okay. For clarity, what is the actual reason TAMS-aided solar generated electricity cannot participate in the microgeneration scheme? What is the blockage there? Is it a national blockage or is it EU rules, or do we know what the causation of that is?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: It might be helpful to us to know that in order to overcome the difficulty. Returning to a point I was making, we, in essence, have a law that is preventing the extraction into the national grid of electricity that has been generated through solar power. This is crazy. There has been a great amount of talk about potential farm diversification benefits. If anything, one would have a fear...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Solar Energy and the Agricultural Industry: Discussion (4 May 2022)
Matt Carthy: How much of that will be covered by rooftop installation?