Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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601. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if solar farms need an environmental impact assessment before they can be built. [8228/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The EU Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive specifies projects which, by virtue of their nature, size or location, are likely to have significant effects on the environment and should be subject to EIA.  The Directive requires projects listed in Annex I of the Directive to be subject to mandatory EIA and provides that Member States may determine whether projects listed in Annex II of the Directive shall be subject to EIA. 

Projects requiring an EIA by a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála (the Board), as appropriate, in respect of an application for planning consent are listed in Schedule 5 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (the Regulations), which transposes the list of projects in Annexes I and II of the EIA Directive.

Proposals for individual renewable energy development projects may be subject to environmental impact assessment (EIA) as part of the planning process.  Part 2 of Schedule 5 of the Regulations includes certain renewable energy development projects, such as wind energy projects and, in accordance with the Directive, certain thresholds have been set below which development need not necessarily be subject to EIA.  EIA is also required in the consideration of planning applications, other than in the circumstances referred to above, where a development is likely to have significant effects on the environment, having regard to the criteria set out in Schedule 7 of the Regulations.

At present, while solar farm development projects are not specifically listed as requiring assessment under the EIA Directive or under the Regulations, such development proposals may be required by a planning authority to undertake an environmental impact assessment, taking into account the criteria listed in Schedule 7 which include the characteristics of the proposed project having regard to its size, its cumulation with other development, pollution and nuisances, and the risk of accidents as well as the location of the proposed development having regard to the existing land use, the environmental sensitivity of the geographical area and the absorption capacity of the natural environment in the area of the proposed development.