119. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if TAMS 3 is facilitating investment in farms to help make them more resilient in the face of severe storms such as Storm Éowyn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25109/25]

Sentiment score: 0.02

I wish the Aire the very best with his brief. It is an important and challenging one. The way that window was opened in responding to a storm was very welcome. Storm Éowyn showed how vulnerable rural communities in particular are in the face of extreme weather events. The Minister mentioned the grants to redo roofs. It would be a good time to look at the solar capital investment scheme, SCIS, which is very welcome. It allows farmers to build resilience into energy supply. They can meet their daily energy needs and improve their ability to withstand future storms. I had a reply to a parliamentary question today that showed just over 3,200 applications were received for that scheme and 2,300 approvals were issued. Is the Minister happy that the SCIS is set up and funded sufficiently to get that mass of farmers that will be needed to come across?

Sentiment score: 0.40

I was reading about the scheme. There is just one little wrinkle, which is that there does not seem to be support for microgeneration. A farmer cannot put panels on the roof and put excess power back into the grid. It seems a little unfair, given that you can in a residence. If there are panels on the roof of a home, excess power can be put back into the grid. That feels like a missed opportunity. Maybe it could be looked at in future.

Sentiment score: 0.07