Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have raised previously the absence of guidelines on solar farms.The epidemic of planning permission grants for solar farms over the past 12 months to keep Ireland lighting 24/7 needs to be dealt with legislatively and guidelines need to be put in place. Today in Kinsale, County Cork, planning permission was granted for another solar farm by An Bord Pleanála against its own inspector’s report. Proper legislation needs to be put in place. When the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, addresses the issue of renewable energy feed-in tariffs in the next few months, he will have to look at the number of solar farms because we have a major glut of them. An Bord Pleanála’s decision today proved we have a glut with the inspector doing one thing and the board doing another. This is an important issue and we need to legislate for guidelines in this area sooner rather than later.