Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a great pleasure to support this very worthy Bill. When we think of solar energy and the impact of having it in our schools throughout the country, what greater lesson and what greater leadership can we give our young people who, as we know, are often leaders in this area. It is a very strong statement in any community when we see public buildings, be they schools, Garda barracks, community centres or council offices, with solar panels. It is very much to be welcomed.

Of course, planning permissions are needed. We need strong regulatory powers around planning but sometimes there is too much red tape. The regulations are very cumbersome so it is an excellent idea, proposed in this Bill, to ensure planning permission is not needed for solar panels, starting with public buildings in particular, but including schools and some business premises. We know that one of the large expenditure items school boards of management have to pay are electricity bills, so there would be a real boon in that. Government needs to look at the possibility of providing grants that would follow this legislation to enable schools to have solar panels. Solar panels should be mandatory for any new public buildings or schools that will be built in future. The fact that a new special education needs, SEN, classroom is now mandatory in all school buildings is really wonderful, but we need to follow that with solar panels.

Our leaving certificate students are finishing their final examination tomorrow. There could be a wealth of new employment, jobs and industry relating to solar panels. We know there will be a wealth of new jobs for young people, even those starting first year in September, by the time they finish school and college, which we have not even thought about, or dreamed of, at this point. The current drive towards apprenticeships within higher education means there is no reason we could not have many new jobs and positions in this whole area.

Retrofitting is very important for areas that have been impacted by just transition and the move away from fossil fuels and carbon industries, including my county of Kildare. There is an emphasis on just transition and retrofitting. It certainly makes sense to look at different areas, such as solar energy, in conjunction with retrofitting.

I acknowledge there are some difficulties with this legislation as it is laid out regarding aviation safety. That has to be borne in mind but I have no doubt that the proposers will bear that in mind with the amendments that need to come down the line. Some of the work the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has done on similar legislation is basically acknowledging all of that. Aviation is going through a very difficult time but, hopefully, it will be back to some level of normality within the next 12 months and we need to safeguard that. The Department intends to commission the development of detailed aviation safeguarding maps, which will identify areas in the vicinity of airports and that is important. That work will be finished in about nine months' time. Generally speaking, I welcome and support this Bill and I commend my colleagues in the Green Party for supporting it.