Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a great pleasure to speak again on this very worthy Bill. I spoke on Second Stage also. When we think of solar energy and the impact of having solar panels on our schools, what greater lesson and leadership can we give our young people, who are very often leaders in this area? It is a strong statement in any community when we see public buildings with solar panels, be they schools, Garda barracks, community centres or council offices. It is to be welcomed.

I agree, of course, with the principle of planning permission. We need strong regulatory powers around planning. However, quite often there is too much red tape and bureaucracy. The regulations are very cumbersome. It is an excellent idea proposed in the Bill by the Green Party to ensure that planning permission is not needed for solar panels, starting with public buildings in particular, but including schools and some business premises. Among the largest expenditure items that school boards of management have to pay are electricity bills. There would be a real boon in that respect also.

The Government needs to look at the possibility of providing grants that would follow this legislation to enable schools to have solar panels. They should be mandatory for any new public buildings or schools built in the future. The fact that a new special educational needs, SEN, classroom is now mandatory in all school buildings is wonderful but we need to follow that with solar panels. Solar panels could give rise to a wealth of new employment and industry. We know there will be a wealth of new jobs for young people, those who are in school now or starting first year in September, by the time they finish school or college. They will be in jobs we have not thought or dreamed about at this point. The current drive towards apprenticeships within higher education means there is no reason we cannot have plenty of new jobs and positions in this whole area of retrofitting, solar panels and so on.

The retrofitting scheme announced last week is very important for areas that have been impacted by the move away from fossil fuels and carbon industries, including my home county of Kildare. The emphasis on just transition and retrofitting should also be put on other areas such as solar energy. I welcome and support this Bill. I commend my colleagues in the Green Party on supporting it. The Bill and other associated measures will also support Irish communities that wish to take part in Ireland's renewable energy transition. There are over 500 sustainable energy communities across Ireland supported in a network through SEAI. To refer to the previous speaker, there are three ways of recycling solar panels. I need not go into it as I have no doubt that the Minister of State will. There certainly are ways, as there should be, of recycling solar panels.