Renewable Energy Generation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

Absolutely. This is all about balance and giving farmers opportunities to offset costs. It is open to farmers, as landowners, to pursue opportunities to derive or manage income from renewables. That is where rooftop solar has been important. Under TAMS, it is only to offset high energy bills but if farmers put it on their rooftops through a normal system whereby they can sell it back to the grid and make an income from it, there is nothing to stop a beef or sheep farmer generating an income of €5,000, €6,000 or €7,000 per year from the roof of a shed while the core agricultural activity involving cattle, shed or grain continues in the shed.
When one thinks of income volatility and the ups and downs in market prices, anything that can provide a steady income for farmers that offsets that income volatility definitely helps with incomes, but also helps in terms of generational renewal and providing certainty for the next generation to look to take on. We all agree that we want to work here in a balanced way.
With 3,167 approvals, almost €23 million paid out to 1,232 farms and approvals on a rolling basis, this has been hugely popular and hugely successful. I just have to manage the overall TAMS budget under my priorities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29