Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Green Party's initiative here and I thank the Senators for their work on it. We will certainly support it. It is what all of us have recognised for some time as an unnecessary impediment to the continued increase in ambition of many citizens who want to play their role in decarbonising our economy. The provisions in the Bill set out a clear identification of a problem that is reducing people's ability to act quickly in participating in the reduction of the output of carbon into the atmosphere.

A few aspects of it are important. A number of Senators have spoken about tying it into education and recognising that schools can play a role. Any time we get a citizen to make a significant change in the way he or she lives his or her life to benefit the environment, we create a climate change ambassador. When somebody purchases an electric vehicle or insulates his or her home, sometimes it is based on an incentive put in place by the State but once he or she makes that initial choice, it alters his or her life in so many other ways because he or she becomes an ambassador for other changes he or she might not require an financial incentive to do.

I have long held the view that there should have been no planning impediment across society regarding the use of solar panels. I would probably go a bit further and be inclined to make it a requirement of most buildings. Why would they put in a roof that does not have solar panels? There may be some specific reasons not to do it but they should be the exception and the rule should ultimately be that all roofs would be required to capture light. As Senator Garvey and others have identified, it does not require direct sunlight. Capture can still take place on days we might consider to be somewhat inclement, although maybe not to the same intensity. However, light is still generating electricity. As we move away from carbon-intensive fuels and towards a society where electricity will be the energy source of the future, we must find much more imaginative ways of harnessing, capturing and storing electricity. Solar panels in conjunction with advancing battery technologies will form part of that mix.

Of course, the capture of wind is a hugely important feature of generating electricity but quite frankly, we now see that many of our communities are not prepared to accept the imposition of wind turbines. It is hard to blame them when one considers the impact they can have on small communities. We are told that we are still ten years away from capturing wind off shore, particularly in the Atlantic Ocean where there are vast amounts of energy to be harnessed. In the intervening period, we have to be more creative because communities will not accept wind turbines, as some did in the past in the same way as previous generations accepted the large poles for carrying electricity. Those large metal structures are not acceptable anymore. Communities do not want them and the same is happening with the capture of wind. We must look at solar panel technology.

I listened to what Senator Boyhan said about their lifespan. There are certainly issues there but we have a window to get it right when it comes to our emissions and we must use the technologies that are here today. I have no doubt that if this House exists 50 or 100 years from now, as I am sure it will, there will be technologies we have not even dreamt of that will capture electricity if electricity is what will be used then. Neither I nor anyone else knows.We must use whatever is available to us to rid our environment of the destruction caused by carbon emissions and the emissions from other associated gases considered to be equivalent to carbon. What is available to us must be used. I would be a strong supporter of the use of these solar cells. The more opportunities we give society the cheaper energy will become and the more advances will take place

We see the solar cells that are in use. Five years ago the cost of installing them was prohibitive but now it is not. They have reduced in price because more people are using them across the world. The same is happening with battery technology. I would be a strong advocate of pushing and supporting such advances in every way we can. We must encourage people in the first instance. To get the early adapters we must provide incentives. That is being done though the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. We need to remove impediments to planning. The next phase the Minister of State needs to address is to require the next layer of buildings to install solar panels. I am taken aback when I see large industrial buildings with massive roofs that it was not a planning requirement for them to install solar panels to generate electricity. There is financial gain and reward to be derived from that but in the first instance their installation generates electricity that does not have to be generated by gas, oil or coal as currently happens. We must be far more ambitious in everything we do. Science will evolve and develop and there will be new opportunities. Let us harness what we have and we should do it now. The Minister of State should put pressure on his Department. There will be people who will have concerns about it. We hear of concerns expressed by aviation authorities. Those can be pushed aside as there are certain restriction zones around airports that have issues, but after that let us get on and get it done.