Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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1330. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when guidelines as to the suitable locations for the construction of solar panels will issue. [36764/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Proposals for individual solar farm developments are subject to the statutory requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, in the same manner as other proposed developments, with planning applications made to the relevant local planning authority with a right of appeal to An Bord Pleanála. There are currently no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar farms.

Under the Act, each planning authority's development plan must set out an overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of the area concerned. Section 10 of the Act requires a development plan to include, inter alia, objectives for the provision or facilitation of the provision of infrastructure, including energy facilities, and many local authorities have developed renewable energy strategies for their areas in this context.

In making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities and the Board must consider the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of the local development plan, any submissions or observations received and relevant Ministerial or Government policies, including any relevant guidelines issued by my Department. Planning authorities must then make their own decisions based on the specific merits or otherwise of individual planning applications.

While I am satisfied that the planning code is sufficiently robust to facilitate the assessment of individual planning permission applications for solar farm developments, I am keeping the matter under review, in consultation with my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, who leads on renewable energy policy. In this regard, our two Departments are exploring the potential for enhancing national planning guidance on solar energy, taking account of solar energy projects being assessed by planning authorities and the scope for future development of the sector in the context of the ongoing development of renewable energy policy.

On foot of this ongoing engagement between the two Departments, where the need for specific planning guidance for solar farms is identified, my Department will develop such guidance as deemed appropriate.