Planning Issues
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
============================================================

Mike Kennelly (FG), Labour Panel

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Seanad. I call on the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to provide a timeline for the publication of the national planning statement on solar energy development. Let us be clear. Ireland needs renewable energy and solar energy will play a major role in helping us to meet our climate targets. Most people will accept that.
However, communities also need confidence that solar developments are being planned in a fair, transparent, consistent and balanced manner. At present, local authorities, developers and communities are operating without any national guidelines or guidance. This is creating uncertainty and concern, in particular in rural areas where large-scale solar farm applications are being proposed. In one area of north Kerry there are currently ten solar farm developments approved or progressing through the planning process, covering over 4,000 acres of land in the Listowel municipal district. This demonstrates the scale of investment coming into rural Ireland and the urgency of having a clear national framework in place.
I want to be very clear that people, including me, are not opposed to renewable energy, but they want to know what rules are being applied and what protections are in place. Communities deserve certainty and consistency, rather than having these decisions made without clear national guidelines. The national planning statement should provide clear direction on a number of key issues in regard to solar farm planning applications. It should address location and site suitability, whether the proposed site is appropriate for solar development, landscape and visual factors, the effect of solar installation on the surrounding landscape and views, glint and glare issues, the assessment and mitigation of potential impacts on nearby homes, roads, airports and other sensitive locations, residential amenities, the potential impact on neighbouring homes, including the visual impact, noise and construction disturbances, setback distances from properties and proper screening. It should also consider the quality and productive use of agricultural land.
As is the case with wind energy, community engagement is important, especially in my area. Meaningful consultation with local communities before and during the planning process, outlining the community benefit arising from renewable energy projects is necessary. As I said, almost 4,500 acres in my area are being proposed for solar wind farms. This is not a question of choosing between climate action and protecting rural Ireland. We can and we must do both. Clear national guidelines would provide certainty for communities and landowners and consistency for planning authorities across Ireland.
This is not an argument against renewable energy. As I said, it is quite the opposite. We need renewable energy. We need to meet our climate targets. We need energy security and investment in rural Ireland. We also need public confidence. If we do not bring the public with us, we will not have their confidence. People living in rural communities deserve to know the large-scale developments are being planned strategically and that their concerns are being properly considered. We should not find ourselves in a situation whereby significant areas of our rural districts are being committed to solar development before we have a clear national planning framework in place. This should not be a choice between protecting our rural environment and achieving our climate targets. As I said, we must deliver on both.
Today, I call on the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to provide a firm timeline for the publication of the national planning statements for solar energy and to ensure local communities, local authorities, farmers, environmental interests and developers have a meaningful opportunity to contribute to the process. I thank the Minister of State.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23