Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank him and the Senators for bringing this Bill forward. It was great to see such an initiative. As Fine Gael spokesperson for education, I am very happy to support it, especially as it includes schools. The Minister of State has highlighted that as one of the key areas in the Bill. That is so crucial because through the Green Schools programme, the work of An Taisce and everything we are doing to promote sustainable energy within our schools to help our children become aware, all our families are becoming more aware of energy sustainability. It is so crucial.

One issue is that some schools are quite old. We have some 3,200 primary schools and approximately 600 secondary schools, which is roughly 4,000 in all. I am aware of a number of them that need roof maintenance, for example. The Department of Education only recently looked at roof maintenance, last year or the year before, but so many of these schools are aged and are decades old. There are sometimes major issues with roofs leaking, not being maintained or not doing what roofs are supposed to do. How do we support schools that need roof maintenance done prior to putting in any solar panels? How do we support schools when they have no resources at the moment to look into doing that? We need to look at this issue if we are focusing on schools as one of the areas where we are going to drive this issue. I know it also applies to general public buildings. I very much welcome this Bill. These are just some points about how we are actually going to make it effective. What will our goals be in one, two or three years' time, when we look at the numbers of schools that will have solar panels and will be using them?

On agriculture, coming from a farming background I know there are many slotted sheds with lots of roof space, which is something farmers will look into. I apologise for missing the introduction of the debate but I will ask the Minister of State about what schemes he is looking at. Is he looking at the microgeneration scheme where people will be able to give power back into the grid? What schemes is he looking at? We have talked about this being a programme for which we will reduce red tape. We know from our farmers that when they apply for many schemes, they have to do so much online. How will we make it simpler for farmers to apply to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, for solar panel grants?

I really welcome this Bill. I know that sunlight is a bit of an issue.Senator Garvey said how good it would be for schools to be able to use the sun during the summer months. I am not an expert and I do not know if solar panels can go on places other than roofs. If we are looking at roof space, we are also very green.

At the weekend in east Galway, I met somebody from Lahinch, County Clare, and she said, "My gosh, there are trees." I said that it must be lovely down in Lahinch and that she must be a great surfer. She said it is very bare because of the wind and they do not have many trees. We all know how the trees lean over sideways in the west and look very cool. The challenge is that in many parts of Ireland we have many very tall trees, particularly in east Galway and Roscommon. They are beautiful and form great forests, but how does that work with solar panels? Will there be some kind of consultant to support schools and others to achieve the maximum from their solar panels? Who will be able to tell them exactly what they need to do?